Via Vai Meets Studio 44 by Montecito Journal

The Quilting Age – A quilt over 100 years in the making will grace the upcoming show at Earl Warren, P.30

Via Vai Meets Studio 44

Carlos Pillado left his village in Argentina, trekking 6,451 miles to San Francisco, Art, Pane e Vino, Via Vai, and the rest of his life. On October 11, Studio 44 explains all (Story starts on page 6)

Heart Pumping Paint – The need for adrenaline is questioned during a round of paintball, P.33

Lotusland Forever

More Miramar

Hotelier Bob Hazard scrutinizes the expansion and the history of the Miramar, P.24

In Vino Veritas – Discover the true reason this area’s wines thrive at the Santa Barbara Vintners Festival, page 35

Sansum & Sutter – One year into their historic partnership, vital signs are great, page 5

Ganna Walska’s iconic botanic garden looks to its future and beyond with its new capital campaign, page 14

INTERNATIONAL SERIES AT THE GRANADA THEATRE SEASON SPONSOR: SAGE PUBLISHING

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2024, 7:30PM

TRAILBLAZERS:

MARTÍN + BRAHMS + BAUER

LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Jaime Martín, Music Director Thomas Bauer, baritone

Experience the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra—hailed as “one of the world’s great chamber orchestras” (KUSC Classical FM)—under Music Director Jaime Martín, in a program featuring Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with acclaimed baritone Thomas Bauer. This concert is a cultural highlight you won’t want to miss!

PROGRAM: HAYDN: Symphony No.6 in D Major, “Le Matin”

MAHLER arr.SCHOENBERG: Songs of a Wayfarer

BRAHMS: Symphony No.2 in D Major

Sponsors: Edward S. DeLoreto • The Granada Theatre • Lois S. Kroc • Nancy & Byron K. Wood Co-Sponsors: Anonymous (2) • Mahri Kerley • Kathryn Lawhun & Mark Shinbrot

Tickets at The Granada Theatre Box Office (805)899-2222 ⫽ granadasb.org

The Giving List – Just one year after Sansum and Sutter’s partnership, the organization is getting a clean bill of health

Beings and Doings – Artist Carlos Pillado left his small village in Argentina and found his new home – and healing – at Pane e Vino, Via Vai, and in art itself

Montecito Miscellany – Seasonal previews, galas, ballet, barbecue, and more miscellany this week

Letters to the Editor – The community has plenty to say regarding the Miramar expansion – read on! Tide

Our Town – The crowds are getting ready for the 38th Annual California Avocado Festival and a farewell party for Helena Mason Gallery

Society Invites – Lotusland launches a new capital campaign and some alumni activities with the Suffolk

On Entertainment – Fiddle your way over to the Stow House, plus a rush of festivals,

Your Westmont – The Montecito college scores well in new rankings, students show off their research, and a raffle for a Scottie Schefflerautographed putter

HOPEFUL REALISM

Faith-Based Principles for Pluralist Democracy

Thursday Oct. 10 | 5:30 p.m.

Santa Barbara Community Arts Workshop (CAW) 631 Garden Street

Conversations About Things That Matter

The Giving List

Sansum Clinic – Sutter Health

by Steven Libowitz

On October 2, 2023, Sansum Clinic became part of Sutter Health, a significant milestone that altered Sansum’s then 103-year history as the largest independent nonprofit outpatient healthcare organization between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay. The new relationship, cemented after a 15-year courtship between the equally venerable organizations, was created to take advantage of the economies of scale and the capabilities that size can bring.

One year after finalizing its partnership with the larger integrated health system that is also a nonprofit, Sansum and Dr. Kurt Ransohoff – the local clinic’s longtime CEO and Chief Medical Officer who now serves as Sutter Health Greater Central Coast Division President – have been charting the progress in expanding access to care.

Sansum Clinic will have hired nearly 40 new clinicians by the end of 2024, half of whom are advanced practice clinicians (nurse practitioners or physician assistants), providing patients with greater access to primary care in addition to several specialties.

“We’re proud of the number of new people that we have had the ability to bring in,” Ransohoff said. “Normally, it might be five to 10 people in a year, replacing staff who retire and some modest growth. Forty is huge. But it’s also the kind of doctors – ones who can address real shortages in areas such as primary care and dermatologists.”

Bumping up the number of primary care clinicians makes a massive difference in terms of how long new patients are waiting to schedule a first visit to establish care at Sansum Clinic. The growth has allowed the clinic to expand weekday hours and add weekend hours, which together have recently resulted in wait times for new patients dropping by almost 50 percent.

“The program calls for some of our doctors to work at nights and on weekends just specifically to address the issues new patients have with the ability to get in,” Ransohoff said. “It’s helping significantly with the access problem, which we’re very proud of.”

Three of the new doctors have brought previously unavailable specialties to the clinic, including minimally invasive spine surgery and endoscopic gastrological ultrasound.

“Having those kinds of doctors who are trained in the special skills that allow very complicated things to be done here in Santa Barbara means our patients don’t

The first spine surgery at Foothill Surgery Center with Tom Parra, Area Administrator, Surgery Center Division, Greater Central Coast; David Clibrey, BSN, RN, Director, Ambulatory Services, Sutter Health Greater Central Coast; Sean Keem, M.D., Spine Surgeon, Will Watkins, M.D., Anesthesiologist; and Joshua Shultz, RN (courtesy photo)

have to go to Los Angeles, which can be very inconvenient,” Ransohoff said.

Digital “front door” enhancements over the last year, including the ability to schedule Urgent Care same-day appointments and establishing primary care visits online, have also made accessing care more convenient.

“It wasn’t a question of not having the technology, but being part of Sutter encouraged us to make that possible because some of their other groups also do that,” Ransohoff said. “We are now part of a system where our brethren are doing that. We should too.”

Sansum is also following Sutter Health’s lead in adopting a more robust and consistent approach to ensuring safety and security at all its locations, including the deployment of patrol vehicles, for higher levels of security for employees, clinicians, patients and visitors.

Three new outpatient operating rooms at Foothill Surgery Center, which Sutter Health funded, are now open and in use, and facilities improvements are underway across Sansum’s 19 patient care centers. These improvements address everything from site repairs to paint, parking and signage, improving the experience of patients and staff. And members of Sansum’s clinical teams are now connecting with their peers at Sutter, leading to collaboration, sharing of knowledge and best practices, and educational opportunities; all of which advance Sutter and Sansum’s goal to be the best place to work, practice medicine, and receive care.

Beings & Doings

Carlos Pillado’s Via Vai Collection at Studio 44

by Jeff Wing

Beloved local restaurant/living room Via Vai lost its Upper Village lease following a three-decade run. As the longtime crew tearily bade their homestead farewell, artist Carlos Pillado moved about the twilit rooms in a cloud of memory, carefully removing his art from the walls. “The day that I took down my paintings, I cried. That was a very sad day for me.” Backdrop to so many heartfelt gatherings at Via Vai over the years, Carlos’ paintings were now artifacts of an era very recently bygone. They – like the home they’d long inhabited – were going away. Evenings of lamplit laughter in the company of dear pals and family can seem happily unremarkable until business whimsy shuts a place down. The for-profit world can have a seeming life of its own, unanchored to the teeming actual life that is its sustenance. What’re you gonna do? “The landlord wanted

the place back and he didn’t negotiate the fact that Pietro built a clientele there for 30 years,” Carlos says. “It’s a lifetime.”

Like many an artist, Carlos Pillado wears a couple different guises. He is a longtime associate and onetime business partner of Via Vai and Pane e Vino owner Pietro Bernardi, with whom he has had a long culinary association. The Pane e Vino at 1715 Union St. in San Francisco was the center of Pillado’s working life for nearly thirty years until COVID shut the place down in August 2021. Carlos took the occasion to go home. “I moved back to Argentina temporarily to be with my parents. While there, Pietro asked me for help and l decided to move to Santa Barbara to help him. Home is Santa Barbara. When Pietro is traveling, mostly in Italy, I am in charge of Pane e Vino.”

An emotional open book, Carlos’ eyes cloud now as he speaks. “Pietro did his best to keep most of the people from Via Vai, and that is amazing. I am very close to them. They are my family.”

Footloose Young Argentine Seeks and Finds

Thanks to the usual kismet, Carlos Pillado’s so-named “Via Vai Collection” will be reappearing in a new upper village space, his mesmerizing art both subject and object when it reappears in the eccentric, beautifully appointed gallery Studio 44 which – as the rules of kismet dictate – is right across the street (1482 East Valley Road, Studio 44, to be exact) from the shuttered Via Vai.

On Friday, October 11 from 5-7 pm, Stephanie Kaster’s gem of a gallery will host a reception for Carlos and his resuscitated Via Vai Collection. These things happen, thank goodness. Carlos’ search for meaning manifests in his art. His style is not recognizably of any “school” because he is self-taught and his images curated from his own color-filled cranial vault. The map to his own interior is comprised of these painted works. “I don’t

Beings & Doings Page 384

Pillado’s A Tranquil Day in the Valley of My Mind

Montecito Miscellany

This Gala Is En Pointe

by Richard Mineards

State Street Ballet’s 30th anniversary gala at the Music Academy of the West was full of eastern promise!

More than 200 balletomanes descended on the picturesque Miraflores oceanside campus for the boffo bash, co-chaired by Alex Nourse and Dr. Nicole Callahan, which featured music from the UCSB Middle East Ensemble and the ballet company’s professional track dancers choreographed by Alexandra King

The company’s season begins on October 26 with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Stravinsky’s The Firebird, a true Russian dynamic double act with the Santa Barbara Symphony under Nir Kabaretti at the Granada.

After cocktails on the terrace, guests adjourned to Hahn Hall for dance performances, including an excerpt from Le Spectre de la rose performed by Harold Mendez, and the pas de deux from Scheherazade with Saori Yamashita and Ryan Lenkey, both pieces accompanied by pianist Jezreel Real

After remarks from artistic director Megan Philipp and executive director Cecily MacDougall, the show concluded with an eight-person ensemble piece, “Accelerate,” choreographed by Philipp. Writer-historian Erin Graffy de Garcia then conducted a paddle raise that helped the glittering gala. Sponsored by Roger and Sarah Chrisman, Margo Cohen-Feinberg and Robert Feinberg, Sara Miller McCune, Tim Mikel, the Ann Jackson Family Foundation, Marc and Pauline Sylvain, Richard Watts and Carrie Towbes for the Michael Towbes Fund – the auction raised more than $150,000.

Silent auction items included a walkon role in The Nutcracker in December, a stay at the Belmond El Encanto, a twonight stay at Chicago’s Sophy Hotel, and

a similar package at the Inn by the Sea in Portland, Maine.

Among the supporters were founder Rodney Gustafson, Caren Rager, Barbara Burger, Peter and Kathryn Martin, Rick Oshay and Teresa Kuskey, Leila Drake, Palmer Jackson, Dana Hansen, Andre Yew, Kostis Protopapas, Chris Lancashire and Catherine Gee, Fred and Nancy Golden, Mark Whitehurst and Kelly Methner, Scott Reed, and Jonathan Bishop

Repose and Praise in Pink

The Breast Cancer Resource Center was thinking pink when it hosted its 26th annual Pink Lounge gala at the Rosewood Miramar that attracted 200 guests and raised $350,000 for the popular nonprofit.

The fun fête, co-chaired by Dr. Priti Gagneja and Vince Caballero, featured a live auction conducted by Sotheby’s International realtor Dusty Baker, who sold off stays at the Rosewood Miramar (including dinner at Caruso’s), a twonight stay at the Carlyle in Manhattan for $7,250, a week’s stay at a villa in

Miscellany Page 424

SSB Company Artists Saori Yamashita and Ryan Lenkey perform in Hahn Hall (photo by Stephen Lewis)

Executive Director Cecily MacDougall, gala co-chair Nicole Callahan, and Artistic Director Megan Philipp (photo by Stephen Lewis)

Ellen Zissler, Margo Cohen-Feinberg, Founding Director Rodney Gustafson, and gala co-chair Alex Nourse (photo by Stephen Lewis)

Goodwin & Thyne Proudly Celebrates

This year’s One805Live! event on 9/20/24 was incredible! Thank you to all who came in support our first responders. Since the devastating 2018 Thomas Fire and the mudslides that followed, One805 has dedicated itself to raising funds for our brave first responders who risk their lives for our safety and has raised millions of dollars to provide essential equipment, enhance safety measures, and offer much-needed counseling services for our heroes.

On behalf of John J Thyne III and Olesya Thyne, and their co-founders Richard and Kirsten Weston Smith and Eric and Nina Phillips, thank you to the many other sponsors, volunteers, celebrities, performers, guests, and supporters. In particular, thank you to Yardi Systems, Direct Relief International, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, and all who supported this event and our organization. There are still many opportunities to contribute and make a meaningful impact for our local first responders.

To learn more about One805 visit: one805.org

Letters to the Editor

Correction to Last Week’s Cover

On the cover of the previous issue (Sep. 26, 2024), we inadvertently used a rendering from a group opposed to the Rosewood Miramar development instead of the proposed rendering that had been provided by Caruso’s team to the County Planning Commission. This was unintentional and accidental. The image had also been modified without notification by removing landscaping (including the palm trees) in order to fit headline copy on the cover. The rendering submitted by Caruso’s team to the CPC can be seen here. In the photo we used for the cover, the reference point is not given, making it difficult to present the proposed development in its proper context and scale.

Editor’s Note – ZR

Caruso’s Commitment to Compliance

I was dismayed to see the Journal’s frontpage headline stating that the Miramar “short circuits local process and heads to county,” accompanied by a fabricated image of the project. The Miramar has done nothing except recognize, along with the County, that the law leaves the jurisdiction of this matter with the County rather than with the local planning commissions.

Rendering submitted to the County Planning Commission by Caruso’s team

As John Adams observed, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

In June 2002, Santa Barbara County Ordinance 2-25 became effective. This ordinance established the Montecito Planning Commission (MPC) and the Montecito Board of Architectural Review (MBAR), setting out the jurisdiction, roles, and responsibilities of each. The provision in 2-25(b)(3), which has been in place since 2002 and retains jurisdiction for low-income housing projects with the County rather than the MPC and MBAR, was not well known to the County, MPC, or MBAR. The embarrassing reason for this lack of awareness is that not a single low-income housing project has been proposed in Montecito since the passage of the law. The most recently completed low-income project within Montecito was a faculty housing development done by Westmont College next to their campus in the late 1990s.

Those opposing the planned development at the Miramar have perceived subterfuge in the County’s adherence to this law and its retention of jurisdiction over this project, characterizing it as Caruso’s team exploiting a “loophole.”

This is not a loophole; it is the plain

language of the statute. Caruso, the County, MBAR, and MPC should comply with the processes outlined in the law, and these processes should not be shortcut, avoided, or modified by anyone to achieve a certain result. Caruso and his team ought to navigate every legal requirement. They shouldn’t be allowed to skip a required step, and opponents shouldn’t be allowed to add steps as they seem to want to do in this instance. This matter being heard at the County level is the County and the Caruso team following the law. Had they not, some of those opposed to the plan might well have sued either or both for noncompliance.

Some have argued that this matter should be sent back to Montecito for approval. Opponents have also stated that “this would certainly not be the first time that a law has allowed for serious moral or ethical transgressions.” Setting aside the characterization of using property they own in a manner compliant with the law, and building affordable housing for their workers as a moral or ethical transgression, these opponents’ arguments are not with Caruso or the County; they are with the lawmakers. Until the law is changed, this is the proper course. I trust they are not arguing for selective compliance with laws that render results they find problematic for themselves.

Caruso and his team have presented to the Montecito Association. They were prepared to go to the MPC and MBAR. They are ready to go to the County. They will present and make their case in whatever forums the law and officials require. The Caruso team is not “expanding the footprint” of the Miramar. All the planned and proposed development lies within the current bounds of the Miramar property. What they are doing is expanding accessibility for their workers in a creative manner that is financially offset by beautiful and tasteful shops.

This isn’t a sneaky maneuver or the exploitation of a loophole; it is an attempt to do something that hasn’t been tried since before the MBAR and

Montecito Tide Guide

Oct 8

Oct 11

MPC were formed: to build affordable housing within Montecito. Should Caruso and his team be successful, and I hope they will be, they will have fulfilled Montecito’s part in our area’s low-income housing requirements in a tasteful and less impactful manner than sacrificing public areas such as Manning Park. This isn’t a moral or ethical transgression; it may be a moral or ethical imperative. The Caruso team ought to be applauded, not vilified.

Rock Rockenbach, Montecito Resident

Words and Prayers from All Saints

A s a parishioner of All Saints-by-theSea Church, I support affordable housing in the Church’s back yard, but not a commercial monolith.

For going on 125 years, All Saints has stood on land donated by the original owners of the Miramar, nurtured by its sacred connectedness with the beauty around it. Its banner depicts the Church resplendent between the mountains and the sea.

I vehemently oppose the Miramar expansion as proposed by the Caruso

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Organization. Its depictions do not do it justice. It proposes (two) two-story monoliths wrapping around S. Jameson, Eucalyptus Lane and the Church’s north and east boundaries, shrouding All Saints’ and the neighborhood’s views of the mountains.

I vehemently support the Caruso Organization’s proposed affordable housing. For decades All Saints’ outreach has addressed Californians’ critical need for housing. We begged the Caruso Organization to build its 26 affordable housing units on the Miramar’s northwest lot – the Church’s northern boundary – where our community of faith and the neighborhood can best support the families to be housed there. And we urged that the Organization’s proposed retail shops and luxury apartments be moved to the Miramar’s much larger northeast lot, near its Manor House, restaurants, pools and great lawn. Our proposal would not reduce the size of the Miramar expansion by a single square foot and would be less expensive to build.

Thus far, the Caruso Organization has rejected our entreaties. We pray that those in positions of authority be granted wisdom to see that families, not shops, are best in All Saints’ backyard.

Wade (Chip) Nichols

The Benefits of the Biltmore

I am writing to express my support for Ty Warner’s plan to reopen the Four Seasons Biltmore with its new restaurants and pool amenities. As a neighbor in nearby Bonnymede, I have followed the project and its plans with great interest. My understanding is the new pool designs, and the entire project are consistent with the historical architecture of the Biltmore.

The reopening of the Four Seasons will provide substantial benefits to the community by recalling hundreds of furloughed employees and generating tens of millions of dollars of transit occupancy and sales taxes for Montecito.

I would also highlight that Ty Warner has been a very good neighbor as he recently spent $160,000 of his own funds to clean out a large storm drain adjacent to the property which not only saved the county time and money but also benefited the entire neighborhood.

Best – Tim Sloan

Don’t Ignore the Facts

Amid all the noise about the Miramar’s recent proposal, some basic facts are being ignored. It’s not optional for the County Planning Commission to hear about this project – it’s required by the County Code. The Planning Department has said so itself. It’s understandable that many people didn’t real-

ize that, because Montecito has practically never seen an affordable housing application! Even though we all realize that affordable housing is in utterly short supply and badly needed. Unfortunately, the Montecito Planning Commission mishandled this process. They canceled the meeting on the plan that had previously been agreed to and showed every sign of dragging their feet to get the plan heard. That slow walking appears to be on purpose. It was clear that they weren’t going to hear the application with the urgency that the project not only deserves but is required by state law.

This is what created the pathway to the plan being heard by the County Planning Commission, who I’m sure will do a thoughtful job hearing this project. And yes, the Montecito Planning Commission will also have the chance to hear the project and weigh in. There will be plenty of chances for the community to make its voice heard on this project, which I wholeheartedly support.

Brett Morrison, Montecito Resident

A Responsive Team and Plan

I am writing to express my strong support for the Caruso team and their work on the Rosewood Miramar Beach expansion project. As a resident of the neighborhood, I have been deeply impressed by their commitment to community engagement and transparency throughout the planning process.

From the outset, the Caruso team made it clear that they valued our input and wanted to work collaboratively with the neighborhood. They provided us with direct contact information for the project leads and were consistently reachable, often at all hours of the day. This level of accessibility is rare and truly commendable.

What stood out most to me was their genuine willingness to listen. They didn’t just go through the motions of community outreach; they actively sought our thoughts, concerns, and feedback. More importantly, they took our input seriously and incorporated it into their planning process.

The team’s approach fostered a sense of partnership between the developers and the community. They kept us informed at every stage, addressing our questions and concerns promptly and thoroughly. This open dialogue has helped to build trust and ensure that the expansion plans align with the needs and values of our neighborhood.

As we look forward to seeing the Rosewood expansion come to life, I feel confident that it will be a project that enhances our community. This is in no small part due to the Caruso team’s inclusive and respectful approach to

development. I believe their method of community engagement should serve as a model for future development projects in our area. It demonstrates how developers and residents can work together to create something truly beneficial for all.

In conclusion, I support the Caruso team and their vision for the Rosewood Miramar Beach expansion. Their commitment to community involvement has been exemplary, and I am excited to see the positive impact this project will have on our neighborhood.

Sincerely,

Adrienne Bamford

A Solution with Class and Integrity

As a 40-year neighbor of the Miramar Hotel I am beyond grateful for the care and hospitality that the Caruso team has brought to Montecito. The Miramar is an integral part this town and place that feels like home to many. Throughout the year the Miramar warmly welcomes locals and guests to visit and enjoy this stunning property. All while creating much needed taxes revenue that keeps Montecito beautiful and operating.

I’m mystified that there would be

any opposition to creating 26 affordable homes for our community. Due to wildly out of control home prices, Montecito has become a virtually impossible place for families to reside in and enjoy. This project offers a fantastic solution, providing much needed housing to the dedicated staff that operate the resort. Not only is it the right thing to do for hard working honest employees but it will be designed and built with class, integrity and craftsmanship that so represents the historic Miramar. The plan resulted from a long process of meaningful, important community engagement. And it’s concerning that some people would ignore that process.

As for public review, there will be at least three separate hearings which the public can participate in, including one before the Montecito Planning Commission. Everyone is free to make up their own mind, but I’m proud to be among the hundreds of residents who approve of this project and support it wholeheartedly.

I urge the Board of Supervisors to let common sense prevail, and let the majority of locals who are in favor of the Miramar’s plan benefit in the years to come.

Letters Page 474

Our Town

38th Annual California Avocado Festival

by Joanne A Calitri

It’s that happy time of Rocktober when we get to hear the best live music at four stages for three days and nights while indulging in prized fresh avocados, fresh made guacamole and local food and beverages right here in Carpinteria, our neighbor!

The California Avocado Festival Board of Directors invites everyone to join in the all-ages family friendly festival, October 4th to 6th in downtown Carpinteria, on Linden Avenue and its side streets.

This week, I met with the 2024 Honorary Avo Fest Chair Francis Brand, and the Avo Fest Board – newly appointed President Melissa Brown-Simpson, the Co-President and Director of Production & Operations Mike Lazaro, Secretary Andrea Lionello, Treasurer Jeff Theimer, and Admin-Ops Olivia Sorgman

Brand is a Carpinteria native, first generation American and 8th generation farmer. His family has grown a variety of different crops over the generations including tomatoes, seed production crops, cut flowers, vegetables, leafy greens, and now of course – avocados in their family avo orchard.

I asked him, what is your favorite avocado memory as a kid?

Brand said, “Growing up on the farm with my dad showing me around. My brother and I would come home from Howard School and drive the tractors around on farm picking up trash, walking through the greenhouses and just growing up there.”

Do you recall your first taste of avocados?

“No! I wasn’t a picky eater and grew up with avos!”

In her first year as President, Brown-Simpson shared with us: “I am really excited for the Avo fest, proud of what we have done the past few years as it grows into a new era to bring the next generation of volunteers, community members, and farmers to

get involved in the Avo Fest and what it does for the community.”

Sorgman added the new avocado specialties to taste and purchase this year are the avocado chocolates by Chocolats du CaliBressan and SB Hives’ fresh avocado honey and spicey avocado honey.

Lazaro provided that there are over 75 bands including the Cate School of Rock, Double Wide Kings, Spencer the Gardener, Jackson Gillies, Grateful Dead tribute bands – Shaky Feelin’, No Simple Highway and Dead & Kicking; a Tom Petty tribute band – Petty Set Go; Reggae/Ska bands – The Upbeat, Ska Dadds, Cornerstone, The Moondawgs, Skamakaziel, Ojai Department of Rhythm, and Black Cat Bone. Yes indeed – rock, country, Motown, indie, folk, Beatles tribute, and singer songwriters. The main stage has been made larger this year.

There is a Youth Stage for performances by the Laguna Blanca School of Rock Band, the CSD School of Performing Arts Carp, and other young talent. On this stage on Saturday, the Carpinteria Boys and Girls Club will hold a dance event for youth to hang out and meet other youths.

Friday at 5:30 pm is the Opening Ceremonies with local politicians and the Avo Team. Saturday at 12 pm is the Strong-Arm Competition timing who can hold a 10-pound bag of avos the longest in one hand, and on Sunday, 12 pm, the Guacamole Contest & Avocado Auction.

Making a comeback is the Dunk Tank. The Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Dept will be on hand with demos for the kids. There are 50 artists and crafts peeps, along with 15 tempting food vendors. And as always, the festival supports local nonprofits,

Our Town Page 464

Mike Lazaro, Andrea Lionello, Francis Brand, Olivia Sorgman, Melissa BrownSimpson, and Jeff Theimer (Photo by Joanne A Calitri)

NEW YEAR’S EVE AT MIRAMAR

31 December 2024

8:30 PM - 1:30 AM

Step into a world of enchanting allure as Rosewood Miramar Beach presents Le Bal Cristal en Rouge – a captivating new chapter of our annual New Year ’ s Eve tradition. For its third year, we ’ ve reimagined the night with a daring crimson twist, inviting you to ignite the night and lose yourself in the magic of Miramar. Under the adorned collection of Baccarat chandeliers, celebrants commemorate and toast the arrival of a new year as we take you through an unforgettable evening of passion, elegance, and electric energy of expecting the unexpected.

For booth seating, tickets and more information, please visit our website or email our team at Miramar.NYE@rosewoodhotels.com or call us at 805.900.8388

Society Invites Lotusland Forever Capital Campaign Updates

REBECCA ARGUELLO

ANN SHELTON BETH

BRYSON BOST

CAMILLE DELLAR

RICK DELANTY

KEVIN GLEASON

DEREK HARRISON

WYLLIS HEATON

RAY HUNTER

JOHN IWERKS

CRAIG NELSON

JORDAN POPE

FRANK SERRANO

RICK STICH

RALPH WATERHOUSE

by Joanne A Calitri

Lotusland Executive Director Rebecca Anderson with her Board of Trustees and team held a meeting at Ganna Walska Lotusland on Monday, September 30, to provide updates on their capital campaign titled “The Lotusland Forever Campaign.” Attendees included Elizabeth Anderson of Whittier Trust, and patrons of the organization. Anderson opened the program by introducing Board of Trustees President David M. Jones , architect and board member Anthony Grumbine , Treasurer Stephen P. Schaible , board member and Lotusland Forever Campaign Chair Connie Flowers Pearcy , as well as board members Daniel Bifano , Rachael Douglas , and Susan Read Cronin . She acknowledged her staff: Director of Operations Adam Flint , Director of Finance Fiona Brennan , Director of Gardens and Facilities

Tyler Diehl , Director of Conservation and Curator of the Living Collections

Paul Mills , Director of Development Patricia Sadeghian , and Director of Visitor Services and Public Programs

Lisa Stone . Anderson reinforced the need for endowment funding due to their Conditional Use Permit of 20,000 visitors and students per year, limiting income from visitor resources. She explained, “We have an operational deficit at $1 million per year, need $20 million to break even and to grow the endowment. The Lotusland

Forever Campaign is a $30 million goal, with $15 million for capital improvements and projects, and $15 million in gifts for endowment. I am bowled over with the support in funding from the community. From January 2021 to June 2024, we have raised $15,230,031 million. Our Master Plan includes a Water Resources Project to catch and reuse the runoff of water Lotusland experiences with rainfall. We are working with the Fire Department and Montecito Water District on it. Also, on the plan is to relocate the George Washington Smith Greenhouse and restore it for visitors, to use solar power, install electric car charging stations, work on seed preservation and storage, develop our nursery to protect and conserve the gardens, and offer educational programs on our various environmental projects for a sustainable garden and water strategies.”

Flint updated on the new restroom facilities which are being presented to the Montecito Planning Commission on Thursday, October 3, along with their Conditional Use Permit.

The keynote of his presentation was the Water Strategy Plan, which outlines the capture, reuse and storage of the rainfall and runoff Lotusland experiences and will save 40% on the use of public water annually. After permitting, the project will begin April 2025.

Grumbine talked about the historic buildings on the property, referencing a book he wrote based on original blueprints and photographs he researched with UCSB. He quipped, “Everyone comes here for the gardens, I joined

Society Page 464

SPRING DAY-DOUGLAS PRESERVE BY RALPH WATERHOUSE

Connie Flowers Pearcy, David Jones, and Elizabeth Anderson (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Rachael Douglas, Stephen P. Schaible, and Rebecca Anderson (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

On Entertainment

Fiddlers’ Festival: Music for All… and All Time

by Steven Libowitz

David Bragger hadn’t had much exposure to old time music before 1999, instead spending his time as an itinerant street magician, collector of South Asian folk tales and filmmaker after graduating from UCSB with a Religious Studies degree. But then he inherited his great uncle’s fiddle and began exploring the genre that dates back centuries to the mountains and back porches of rural America.

“I got obsessed with learning this stuff,” Bragger recalled over the phone from his Los Angeles home. “I couldn’t get enough of listening to, meeting and eventually studying with some of the great living old-time musicians around.”

Over the ensuing 25 years, Bragger has become something of a go-to-guru for learning old-time fiddle, banjo and mandolin. Co-founder and curator of Tiki Parlour Recordings and, more recently, the Festival Director of the Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddlers’ Festival (née Convention), Bragger has taken his great-uncle’s gift and made a home around it. Now produced by the Goleta Valley Historical Society at Rancho La Patera & Stow House, the 58th annual event takes place Saturday, October 5.

Since taking over almost a decade ago, Bragger has not only brought the fest back to what was a winning formula launched by founder Peter Feldmann more than half a century ago, but also augmented the activities without straying far from the festival’s original principles of putting nearly all of the emphasis on music that’s at least 75 years old.

Bragger brought back the focus on the instrumental contests, which have returned to the main stage, reinvigorated the workshops – and has added hosted, themed jam sessions to the impromptu ones that pop up all over the expansive grounds at the Stow House site.

“I wanted to restore the importance of the contests, which are the backbone of the festival, but had been sidelined off to an area that nobody wanted to go to,” he said. “It can be very inspiring to non-musicians to see someone their age who may have just started learning how to play the banjo or the fiddle, or for that matter, guitar, mandolin or old-time singing. Every year I hear about people who took up lessons after coming to the festival. And our contest is different from most festivals in that it’s not built around competition and winning but more about showing your stuff to people just for fun and connection. Also, people who are new to the genre really love the hosted jams as an entry point to playing in this musical style.”

An instrumental “petting zoo” also lets visitors experience playing one of the instruments, possibly for the first time.

Through his research, curating, and record company, Bragger also has deep connections with “just about everybody in old time music,” which let him call in favors for this year’s performer and workshop lineup, broadening the roster far beyond the original locals-only approach. Most notably, the fest will feature the debut of Japanese fiddler Bosco Takaki, who learned the old-time craft from Appalachian Masters in the early 1980s but returned to Japan.

“He’s been living in this time capsule playing the music that he learned directly

3 Full Days of PEACE, LOVE & GUACAMOLE

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

Food, Wine & 50+ Vendors

SATURDAY, OCT. 5

10AM-10PM

SUNDAY, OCT. 6

NEW: Youth Stage! 4 stages featuring 70+ local bands

Arts & Crafts Area, Youth Area & Youth Stage join the festival

10AM - 6PM Guacamole Contest at 12PM noon in the Mac Brown Grotto Tent

Avocado Strong Arm Contest 12PM at the Seal Fountain

FRIDAY, OCT. 4

1PM - 10PM Opening Ceremonies at 5:30

Glowcado Groove Youth Dance Party presented by the Boys & Girls Club Saturday 5-7PM

Largest Avocado and Avocado Tree Auction supporting the local FFA during Guacamole Contest

Proudly sponsored by:

David Bragger and many more will be strumming and ole’ timey singin’ their way to the Stow House for the Fiddlers’ Festival (courtesy photo)

Your Westmont Westmont Ranks Among Premier Colleges

by Scott Craig, photos by Brad Elliott

For two decades, U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges list has ranked Westmont as the top Christian liberal arts college in California and the Western U.S. In the 2025 edition released today, Westmont appears at No. 108 (tied) among all national, not regional, liberal arts colleges. And, Westmont holds its rank as the top Christian liberal arts college in California, listed among 10 other liberal arts schools. Overall, it’s one of only two nationally ranked in the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. In the U.S. News National Universities rankings, UC Santa Barbara is listed at No. 39 (tied).

Westmont’s U.S. News score improved in faculty resources rank, student-to-faculty ratio (9.9), faculty salary rank, peer assessment score, and college grads earning more than a high school grad (85%).

Also recently released, Payscale’s rankings report shows Westmont graduates (all alums) in the top 7% for all 1,539 bachelor-degree institutions in the United States in mid-career salaries (median after 10+ years of experience), earning an average salary of $146,800. Westmont graduates who earn a bach-

elor’s degree only are in the top 9% of mid-career earnings with an average salary of $137,900.

Poli-Sci Prof. Explores ‘Hopeful Realism’

Jesse Covington , whose research explores the interrelation of religion and government, takes a step away from the current electoral matchup to look at enduring challenges Christians face in a context like the United States. He discusses “Hopeful Realism: Faith-Based Principles for Pluralist Democracy” at a Westmont Downtown Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 10, at 5:30 pm at the Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden Street, in downtown Santa Barbara. The talk is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations required. Free parking is available on the streets surrounding CAW or in nearby city parking lots. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051.

“Christian citizens can experience tension in their political activity, particularly when their moral commitments seem at odds with the tenets of a pluralist democracy – at times to such an extent that they feel they have to choose between the two,” says Covington, professor of political science and director of Westmont’s Augustinian Scholars Program. “But this need not be the case,” he contends.

The talk will draw on a forthcoming book by Covington, Bryan McGraw, and Micah Watson that explores how the Christian intellectual tradition can help with this tension. Hopeful Realism: Evangelical Natural Law and Democratic Politics, which will be available for purchase in January, shows how the insights of St. Augustine of Hippo, in concert with the Christian natural law tradition, can provide vital guidance for Christians in politics today.

Covington earned a master’s and doctorate in political science from the

Your Westmont Page 344

Jesse Covington

Imagine Having a Whole VILLAGE Behind You.

Color the World

Storyteller’s Hue-Popping Gala Rallied Around Santa Barbara Children Facing Adversity

by MJ Staff

Under the stars at the Hilton Beachfront Resort, Storyteller hosted its Color the World Gala, a vibrant celebration that honored the community and the impact of Storyteller’s mission to support children facing adversity. The event, chaired by Analise Maggio and Erinn Lynch , offered a night filled with brilliant hues, stunning art, a brand reveal, and a big surprise for emcee Andrew Firestone.

With a ruse that the night’s honoree was “Dr. Stefanie Rowen” – an anagram for Andrew Firestone – former Bachelor host Chris Harrison and his wife, entertainment reporter Lauren Zima, supported the big reveal as letters on a jumbo LED screen began to re-sort and Firestone’s friends and family stepped into the rotunda.

After being beckoned on stage with modified lyrics to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’

on a Prayer,” Firestone emotionally acknowledged, “I tell you this…this is my therapy. I love helping these causes because – when I ruminate on the challenges of struggling families –it gives me peace of mind to witness the display of compassion from the Santa Barbara community.” Andrew Firestone hosts and emcees on average 52 events per year for local nonprofit organizations, pro bono.

The evening also marked a significant milestone for Storyteller, as the organization unveiled a new brand identity and logo – a colorful pinwheel-like icon symbolizing collaboration, support, and advocacy. “We wanted our new brand to reflect the facets that make us resilient, successful, and connected. Each individual child, their family, our teachers, partners, and this community – everyone in this room – is represented in our new logo,” said Executive Director Dr. Gabriella Garcia Attendees were immersed in the mission of Storyteller with a brilliant,

Pollock-inspired step-and-repeat backdrop created by Storyteller students, and a moving testimonial featuring Storyteller parents and staff. Suspended paint cans “spilled” fuchsia and violet tulle, rainbow light orbs glowed on tables, and children from Autumn Lotus’ Elevated Dreams Aerial and Dance Studio swirled around guests with colorful bolts of fabric.

A full slate of art was on proud display, all generously by donated local artists – including Phoebe Brunner, Cassandria Blackmore, Pedro De La Cruz, Chris Gocong, Michael Haber,

Belle Hahn, Kate Kramer, Nicholas Maggio, Giuliana Mottin, and Sylvan Butera Rich. Nearly $40,000 was raised by the art auction alone.

A live auction featured exclusive items, like four floor seat VIP tickets to a Clippers game at the new Intuit Dome, a day with the Dodgers, a ski escape to Vail donated by Rachael and David Stein, and a live painting by celebrated artist Heidi Schwartz

“Tonight’s event truly reflects an extraordinary collaborative spirit, the

Color the World Page 324

Chris Harrison, Lauren Zima, Ivana and Andrew Firestone, Hayley Firestone, and Brooks Firestone

Brilliant Thoughts

Son of a Gun

by Ashleigh Brilliant

As a child growing up in wartime, I was not unfamiliar with talk of guns. But even in peacetime, especially in America, guns were always literally child’s play. I had my own fake revolver, which fired rubber suction cups, but never worked very well.

This may be the only country which guarantees to its citizens, as part of its fundamental law, “the Right to Bear Arms.” This all came about through the years of armed struggle which succeeded in establishing the political independence of a large group of colonists from their “Mother Country.”

But the mere existence of an armed citizenry does not bring about political turmoil. The opposite conclusion might be reached with regard to the nation of Switzerland, where every male citizen is legally required to have and maintain his own rifle and supply of ammunition.

During World War II, Hollywood made a movie about women training to be part of the military, in the newly formed WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps). The title was “Keep Your Powder Dry.”

But nowhere in the film, or in any of its publicity, is the origin of that expression explained. And the viewer is left to assume that the “Powder” must be Ladies’ face-powder. Only well-read people would know that the entire quotation is attributed to the 17th Century English leader, Oliver Cromwell, addressing his troops as they were about to wade across a river in Ireland. And what he said was “Trust in God – and keep your powder dry.” This referred to the fact that, for the musketry still in use at that time, every soldier had to carry his own gunpowder.

So, the title of the film since it was about women in war, was a very deliberate pun. This was emphasized in one of the posters made to publicize the movie, which showed its three stars, Lana Turner, Laraine Day, and Susan Peters, all powdering

their faces, using their mirrored “compacts,” (which were standard equipment for women in those days) to powder their faces.

Guns in America, however, have a long, and hardly honorable, history, which is inextricably intertwined with the saga of Westward expansion. Having a gun gave the holder the power almost effortlessly to wound or kill any animal or unarmed human. It made heroes of those who could protect the Good from the Bad. But it also enabled those otherwise inclined to do much more Bad.

In American legend, all this was acted out, in a semi-lawless society of “cowboys,” who no longer were merely boys who tended cows. The word “Western” became associated with violent dramas, often involving men wearing, in special holsters, either one or two guns as part of their regular outfit.

One of aviation’s pioneering Wright Brothers, Orville – who survived his brother

Wilbur by about 40 years, living through two World Wars to 1948 – was asked if he ever had any regrets about all the evil their invention had brought upon Humanity through its use as a wartime weapon. His reply was that what they had done was like discovering Fire, with all its good and harmful effects – for which whoever made the discovery could hardly be held responsible.

By Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen

by Jamie Torcellini

Certain types of guns have acquired almost legendary reputations. The Winchester Repeating Rifle which first appeared in 1873 has been celebrated as “The Gun That Won the West,” with the implication that guns were instrumental in subduing the Native American tribes. However, in the notorious “Battle of the Little Bighorn” of 1876 (Centennial Year of America’s Independence) an entire U.S. Cavalry Regiment with their leader, General George Armstrong Custer, was wiped out by Indians who were themselves heavily armed – not with bows and arrows, but with rifles and revolvers. How did they acquire such firepower? Not by stealing from settlers, but by honest trade with arms merchants.

But American culture has incorporated guns even into its musical theater, as represented by “Annie Get Your Gun,” based on the true story of a performing female sharpshooter named Annie Oakley. Hardly surprisingly, one of its thematic numbers was “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun.”

It used to be true that police in Britain do not carry guns, and that British law enforcement is based on the idea of “policing by consent,” meaning that most officers rely on the public to respect their authority. That is still largely the case. I remember being taught, as a child, that the “Bobbies” were our friends. “If you want to know the time, ask a Policeman.”

Ashleigh Brilliant born England 1933, came to California in 1955, to Santa Barbara in 1973, to the Montecito Journal in 2016.

Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots,” now a series of 10,000. email: ashleigh@west. net. web: www.ash leighbrilliant.com.

Regina Fernandez and Adam Hagenbuch

Photo: Zach Mendez

Directed

Community Voices What’s Up at the Miramar Beach Resort?

by Bob Hazard

Next Wednesday at 9 am on October 9, 2024, the Rosewood Miramar Beach Resort and its charismatic owner, Rick Caruso, will meet with the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission (CPC), seeking approval for needed improvements to make their resort more attractive to its 5-star clientele and to the Montecito community. What will the CPC be looking for?

Workforce Housing for Employees

SANTA BARBARA BASED CITATION LATITUDE

LUXURIOUS 9 PASSENGER, WIFI AVAILABLE FOR CHARTER

Employer-furnished housing, subsidized by the Miramar at far less than market rates, has the admirable benefits of keeping key members of its workforce on-site, reducing commuter traffic on the freeway, saving gas for the employees, curbing carbon pollution, and helping satisfy the required affordable housing quota assigned to unincorporated county areas like Montecito. No other private employer in Montecito has offered our community this benefit without upfront government subsidies.

The plan is to build 26 units of new workforce housing – seventeen studios, three 1-Bedroom and six 2-BR units – all built over the present surface parking at the lower end of S. Jameson Lane.

There may be some griping that not all 26 units may be designated by the County as serving very-low and low-income professional thresholds – such as housekeepers. Taking supervisors and managers off long-commutes has an equal benefit to reducing traffic and having trained managers on-site for emergencies such as earthquake, fire, flood, or road closures is a good thing.

This project should be applauded by neighbors and the community. It should be approved as submitted with an expression of gratitude to the resort for attempting to help solve our problem of providing employees with affordable housing on a voluntary basis.

Added Underground Parking

Underground parking is extremely expensive to build, especially after the resort has been open for five years. The good news is that new underground parking will add a net new 45 parking spaces to the resort’s current capacity. It is hard not to applaud additional covered parking spaces.

Guests and visitors are relieved of the onerous task of finding parking because every car pulling up to the Miramar, for guests who want to sleep, dine, shop, or walk the beach, must use valet parking. Valet parking can add 20% to parking capacity because car-keys are retained by valet personnel. Again, a no-brainer for approval.

The Addition of Eight Long-term Stay Units

Luxury resort owners have found a surprising number of international and domestic guests who are looking for long-term stays with immediate-access to 5-star resort

Corner of S. Jameson and Eucalyptus

Co-presented with

The

Tue, Oct 8 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre

Civil rights icon Mavis Staples is one of the most recognizable and beloved voices in American music. Grammy-nominated husband and wife Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter are a southern soul duo known as The War and Treaty. Don’t miss this unforgettable evening of deep soul and heart-wrenching gospel passion.

Critics’ Pick: LA Times “Hot Ticket” for Fall Olivier Messiaen’s HARAWI

An American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) Production

Fri, Oct 4 / 8 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

“An essential soprano for our times” (Los Angeles Times), Julia Bullock leads the “blindingly impressive” (NYT) American Modern Opera Company in a newly physicalized and dramatized production of Olivier Messiaen’s deeply-affecting song cycle for voice and piano.

Arrive early for a pre-concert talk by arts writer Charles Donelan and stay after the performance for a conversation with Julia Bullock.

Critics’ Pick: LA Times “Hot Ticket” for Fall London Philharmonic Orchestra

Edward Gardner, Principal Conductor

Patricia Kopatchinskaja , violin

Sat, Oct 12 / 7 PM / Granada Theatre

“London’s most adventurous and dynamic mainstream orchestra.” The Times (U.K.)

Program

Tania León: Raices (Origins)

Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, op. 77

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36

Special Double Bill Mavis Staples

War and Treaty

An Independent Mind

Major Policy Issue No. 2: Taxes

by Jeffrey Harding

This is the second analysis of policies proposed by our presidential candidates. No. 1 was about trade. This one is about taxes.

Both candidates like to spend but have different ideas about how to raise revenues. Kamala Harris wants more revenue from taxation. Donald Trump favors less taxes but believes lower taxes would lift the economy and yield more revenue.

Because both candidates are pandering to voters their proposals are a moving target. But this is what they are saying this week. They may change.

As you know taxes are a complicated mess so I will try to keep it simple.

Income Taxes

In 2017, Trump passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) which lowered tax rates. The top individual tax rate is now 37%. He wants to keep them at that level. Harris would increase it to 39.6% for those with taxable income of more than $400,000.

Harris would also raise the Obamacare tax on investment income to 5% on those with incomes of more than $400,000 ($450,000 for joint filers). Presently it is 3.8% for those with more than $200,000 ($250,000 for joint filers).

Both candidates wish to keep the standard deduction at $12,000 for single filers and $24,000 for joint filers.

Trump proposes to eliminate taxes on social security income. Harris will exempt such income from taxes for those with incomes less than $400,000.

Trump has proposed exempting tip income from income and payroll taxes. Harris proposes the same but has said she will focus on lower-income service and hospitality workers.

Capital Gains Tax

Currently the top capital gains tax rate is 20% plus the 3.8% Obamacare tax, or 23.8% total. Harris would increase that rate to 28% plus 5% tax for Obamacare, and 33% total for taxpayers with taxable income of more than $1,000,000. Trump would keep current rates.

Wealth Taxes

Harris proposes a 25% minimum tax on total income and unrealized capital gains for taxpayers with a net worth exceeding $100,000,000. Taxes on unrealized capital gains would be credited against future realized capital gain taxes. Annual reporting would be required. The details on how this would be accomplished are lacking.

Trump opposes a wealth tax.

Estate Taxes

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) made substantial changes to estate (i.e., death) and gift taxes. Estates with a value of $13.6 million are currently exempt from taxes. A married couple, for example, would have an exemption of $27.2 million. The maximum tax rate is currently 40% of a taxable estate in excess of the exemption.

Trump wishes to keep the rates and policies as set in the 2017 Act. He opposes Harris’s changes.

Harris has proposed substantial changes to the estate tax. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) expires after 2025, and the estate tax exemption reverts back to $5 million ($10 million for joint filers). Harris supports a Senate bill that would further reduce the exemption to $3.5 million.

Harris also would impose a progressive estate tax starting at 55% for estates up to $13 million, then 60% for $13 million to $93 million, then 65% for estates of more than $93 million. If your estate is more than $1 billion, then it’s 75%.

Another major change is Harris’s proposal to eliminate the stepped-up basis provision which allows a beneficiary who inherits an asset to treat the asset’s cost basis as of its value at the decedent’s date of death (or up to 6 months later). Thus a beneficiary could sell the asset at today’s value and pay no capital gain tax. The Harris proposal would treat the decedent’s cost basis as the beneficiary’s cost basis at the date of death for capital gains purposes. If dad bought Apple stock for $1.15 per share in 1990 the beneficiary’s basis is $1.15 even though

the stock today is worth $225 today. Annual gifts of up to $18,000 per donee are currently exempt from taxes. Harris supports a $10,000 per donee cap with $20,000 a year total donor cap on all gifts.

Corporate Taxes

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduced the corporate tax to a maximum of 21%. Trump favors a 20% rate. He has also suggested it could be as low as 15% for companies that manufacture their products in the USA.

Harris would raise the corporate tax to 28%.

Conclusion

There are two conflicting ideologies here. Harris represents the “tax the rich” party. Trump represents the “low tax, more prosperity” party.

First, let’s look at who pays taxes. Here is the latest IRS available data compiled by the Tax Foundation (2021).

The top 1% of taxpayers pay 45.8% of all income taxes. The top 10% pay 76% of income taxes. Here’s a startling number: the top 0.1% (only 153,590 taxpayers) pay 24.7% of income taxes. It is misleading to say the “rich” aren’t paying their fair share of taxes. Without the “rich” – the successful entrepreneurs who have created jobs for millions and changed our lives for the better – who would fund the government?

What these numbers show is that we have a very fragile tax system that relies on the few to carry the many.

What Harris is missing are the unintended consequences of high taxes on successful people and companies. That is, soaking the rich deters savings and investment, and less investment means fewer businesses and fewer jobs. Ultimately it leads to economic stagnation. This is class warfare and, while it has been tried many times, it has never worked.

For policies that would create more prosperity, Trump’s tax proposals are far from perfect, but they are much better than Harris’s.

Montecito Med Spa Aligning the Inner and Outer Selves

by Jeff Wing

Your situation is mildly frustrating but not uncommon: your soul is a supernova, throwing fire and creativity and moment-by-moment enthusiasm – but your chassis is showing its wear through the twin rigors of Life and Love. The Age of Joyous Wisdom tends to have an overlap with the Age of Emollients. All you want –all anyone wants – is an alignment of the inner and outer realms; a presentational exterior that accurately represents your heart – the madly vivid sparkler that animates your days and nights. Is that asking so much? Karen Neary, MSN, RN – and Montecito Med Spa’s principal owner and force of nature –thinks not. Two years serving happy Montecitans proves her point.

On Thursday, September 26, the Montecito Med Spa (MMS) on Coast Village Circle – our Village destination for revelatory rejuvenation – marked its two-year anniversary by opening its doors to a throng of happy celebrants/clients who know first-hand what Montecito Med Spa can do. There were macaroons, champagne, and lots of excited conversation. MMS’ clients are a family.

For two years running, Montecito Med Spa is our woodland village’s onestop rejuvenation station, a small suite of deliciously appointed rooms bristling with the frontline technological, medical, and interpersonal magic dedicated to making you look as good as you feel.

Alongside licensed colleagues Giana and Ashley, Karen Neary – former Clinical Director at Santa Barbara

Surgery Center – has so successfully fulfilled the local inner/outer alignment niche, she has opened a second Montecito Med Spa in nearby Santa Ynez Valley. At Montecito headquarters, 14 service categories answer an array of outpatient needs from (speaking more or less alphabetically) Body Contouring to Vitamin Booster Shots, and from Chemical Peels to Vein Treatments. Montecito Med Spa’s SYV outpost offers a similar suite of services. Check the two offices’ shared website for deets –montecitomedspa.com

Two years is a long time spent happily and successfully serving one’s clients. To MMS ’ great credit, they do not self-promote as a quick fix, which would surely endear them to a broad new client base – seekers of quick solutions . Montecito Med Spa is the deeply expert real deal , their treatments nuanced, medically established, databased, and lasting. Founder Karen Neary feels the love in no uncertain terms and speaks to the camera.

“I want to express my deepest gratitude for your continued trust and support of Montecito Med Spa. Your loyalty means the world to us, and we are truly honored to be part of your wellness and beauty journey. We are thankful for your belief in what we do and for choosing us time and time again. Alongside our practitioners, Giana and Ashley, I look forward to serving you for many more years to come, and to continuing to be a part of your self-care. We have exciting plans in the next months, so please stay tuned.”

Congrats to Montecito Med Spa’s two years of aesthetically optimizing their already sparkling friends and neighbors.

Elizabeth’s Appraisals

Quilting from Wyoming to Santa Barbara

by Elizabeth Stewart

The house and the barn, built in 1901, was located on a dreary plain on a frontier homestead, 169 acres that her husband chose near Rosette, Wyoming; a work-filled ranch of crops and livestock on the American Prairie which stretched as far as Zertta’s 24-year-old eyes could see. Ten years lay ahead of her, living on that Prairie homestead with her husband Barney and five children – 10 years of struggling with minus 40-degree winters, blizzards, prairie fires, grasshopper plagues, and drought. She had one fallback to rely on in this desolate place where her nearest neighbors were miles away, and that was her needlework.

This article is about facing survival with patches of fabric (or early American Quilt making), and features a quilt that a member of the Coastal Quilters Guild of Santa Barbara and Goleta brought back to life: a ‘rescue’ quilt, as RH calls it, begun on Zertta Marquiss’ Prairie homestead almost 125 years ago.

A woman needed help out there on the great Prairie in 1901. Zertta’s older sister joined the family, and Zertta’s youngest girl was taught do “inside” work – such as making clothing, curtains, quilts, and drag carpets. When the females of the homestead were not too tired with their many chores, they took up “fancy” work; fine appliqué work. Quilts were functional, used

for warmth, and were economical, but Zertta wanted to bring a semblance of gracious living to the Prairie. She saved her favorite pieces of fabric, storing them away to make her best quilt one day. The original squares were cut from Zertta’s curtains and old clothing, dating from the first quarter of the 20th century on that Wyoming homestead.

The quilt has an origin story which began on the Prairie but was finished in Santa Barbara by another expert needlewoman. This quilt features unique early 20 th century fabrics; the start of the quilt on a homesteaded ranch in a 40 degree below Wyoming winter couldn’t be more different than the finish of the quilt in sunny seaside Santa Barbara.

The quilt, finished by RH 125 years after the first fabric squares were cut, is to be featured at an exhibit at Earl Warren Showgrounds on October 5th and 6th in the “Harvest of Colors” quilt show as part of the featured exhibit called, Preserving our Quilt Heritage/ California Heritage Quilt Project

Tickets and info at www.coastalquilters.org

RH, a member of the Coastal Quilters Guilt of Santa Barbara and Goleta, conveyed to me this scenario of homesteading on the prairie described in a letter from Zertta’s granddaughter Dorothea. In this letter we are told that Zertta cut those squares for her quilts for a lifetime. But she made a special test mini-quilt (the original “block” is the small center-completed appliqued design square in the finished quilt) and saved it in an old trunk. That is the key to the quilt which enabled RH to follow Zertta’s design concept.

Zertta’s training as a needle woman began as one of 10 children in Broken Bow, Nebraska at her family-run boarding house, and her talent was furthered during her married life. Her hands were never idle during the Great Depression, and during WWII she supervised the County Work Room on the third floor of the local Courthouse as women made quilts for wounded soldiers and sailors. Zertta’s granddaughter Dorothea remembers returning from school to witness the huge wooden quilting frame in the living room, women quilting at the four sides.

Toward the end of her life, Zertta came to California to live with her grown daughter and family. As a grandmother in Dorothea’s house, where her daughter was raising four children, both mother and grandmother were too busy to finish piecing the squares into a sewn quilt. And so, the pieces sat in a trunk, waiting. When Dorothea inherited the trunk of quilt blocks in 1991, she took a quilting class but never tried to finish Zertta’s quilt.

When RH was gifted the pieces (called quilt blocks) she decided to finish the quilt in honor of Zertta (born in Iowa, 1877). Because the fabric squares were cut during Zertta’s long lifetime of 83 years, many were unsuitable together, geometrically speaking. RH found vintage fabric at garage sales and finished Zertta’s quilt as a “rescue quilt,” writing me that a person can save dogs, cats and even bunnies, so why not a quilt? This quilt has been preserved as a bit of American Frontier History. The value is beyond my estimation!

The “rescue quilt” to go on exhibit at Earl Warren Showgrounds

The original quilt “block”

‘Dorothy Parker in Hollywood’

Dorothy Parker in Hollywood by Gail Crowther is a revelatory look at the writer and Algonquin member’s time in Hollywood. For over 35 years Parker worked on screenplays’ trademark snappy dialogue (mostly uncredited) with husband Alan Campbell. The two cavorted with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Orson Welles while punching up scripts with her mots and quips. Known for her scathing tongue, Parker battled Tinseltown’s prejudice against writers (male and female), demons, bad men, and alcohol. Crowther does an excellent job bringing these mystery years to light.

‘The Puzzle Box’

Danielle Trussoni’s sequel to her best-selling The Puzzle Master is back

Stories Matter October Thrills

by Leslie Zemeckis

with more riddles to solve in The Puzzle Box. Mike Brink is blessed-cursed with savant syndrome after a traumatic brain injury which leaves him lonely and isolated in his genius. For a living he solves puzzles online and in the newspapers. He is invited to Tokyo by the Emperor to solve the puzzle of the legendary Dragon Box, so mysterious and destructive it has killed all those that have tried to open it. From the moment he lands in Japan with a woman he isn’t sure he can trust, Brink finds himself on the run and racing against the clock from Tokyo to Kyoto with evil forces close behind – and they want him dead. Another smart thriller from Trussoni.

‘Every Moment Since’

One quiet night in a small Southern town a boy goes missing. Twenty years later his jacket (a “Back to the Future” jacket – he was a huge fan of Marty McFly) is found; throwing the family and the entire town into another media nightmare. Marybeth Mayhew Whalen’s Every Moment Since is a tense revelation of past and present, as the investigation to find who took the boy is renewed. Could he still be alive? There is the older brother that was there that night and has just written a bestselling book about it; the mother who can’t forgive, the suspect who can’t move

on, and a Public Information Officer who can’t escape her secrets. Beautifully written, this one will leave you sobbing!

‘The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad’

As a city starves to death, a group of botanists are tasked with protecting a collection of seeds that could literally save them. This is perhaps little-known history for many in The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad: A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City Under Siege by Simon Parkin. During the summer of 1941 German soldiers surround and lay siege to Leningrad on the order of Hitler. If they can’t take the city, they will starve its three million citizens who cannot escape. It will be the longest blockade in history. I have read other equally devastating accounts of the 872-day siege (I admit to being a Russian history enthusiast) but had not read about the world’s largest seed collection housed in a former palace. Through frigid temperatures and dwindling food

supplies, the men and women botanists fiercely protect the valuable collection. A remarkable story.

‘The Specimen’

Agruesome read – not too bad, I promise – is the atmospheric The Specimen by Jaima Fixsen. Isobel’s young son is dying. They only have months left together. But when the boy disappears and Isobel comes up against a wall of resistance from the police and the boy’s father to find him, she takes matters into her own hands. By chance she happens upon Dr. Burnett’s collection of oddities and medical specimens. In a jar is a small heart labeled with the exact, rare condition her son had. Based on true crimes that occurred during the early 1800s in Scotland, this is a dark and delightful read.

Leslie Zemeckis is an awardwinning documentarian, best-selling author, and actor. The creator of “Stories Matter,” professional female authors mentoring the next generation of female storytellers, co-sponsored by SBIFF.

selfless generosity of our supporters, and the remarkable unity of this community. That’s what made the evening so unforgettable,” emphasized Analise Maggio.

Storyteller, with three campuses in Santa Barbara, is dedicated to supporting infants, toddlers, and preschoolers facing poverty and adversity during critical developmental stages. Their trauma-informed services provide stability, resilience, and growth for young children and their families.

Erinn Lynch, who also serves as the board co-chair, likened the work of Storyteller to the principles of physics.

“Think of a firework: its trajectory, journey and dazzling display are determined by the foundation of its launch. We, all of us here tonight, are influencing a better foundation for these children, setting them on a path toward a brighter future.”

Guests included Sarah Cetrulo , Jon and Susan Clark , Lily Hahn , Belle Hahn , Brooks Firestone Sr. , Ivana Firestone , Hayley Firestone , Lucy Firestone , Mary Firestone , Kenneth Kahn , Chuck and Margarita Lande , Lizzie and Brent Peus , Kenny and Elizabeth Slaught , Carrie Towbes , Ben Sprague , Marianne Sprague , and David Walker – all of whom contributed to a memorable evening filled with hope and commitment to community upliftment.

Visit www.WeAreStoryteller.org

In short, Ransohoff said, Sansum is very pleased with the choice of partner and what’s already been accomplished, and with the Sutter team’s dedication to the organization’s shared goals. “They’ve been very good about following through with all the things that they said that they were going to do,” he said. “And more.”

When last year’s partnership with Sutter Health was announced, Sansum Clinic noted that a key goal was to place an already acknowledged industry leader in an even better position to recruit and retain extraordinary physician talent – a particular and increasing challenge over the years in Santa Barbara, largely due to the high cost of living on the South Coast. The hiring of the new clinicians over the last 12 months has been one of the fruits of the pact, but what wasn’t part of the official agreement was Sutter contributing to addressing similar issues with support staff, including salary increases to make Sansum a more competitive employer on the Central Coast, enhancing both retention and recruitment efforts.

“The ratio of the cost of a house to what an internist makes has changed many times over since then,” he said.

“Thankfully, there are people in this community who have been willing to help us with this program, which funds a special loan that allows a young doctor with a lot of debt to be able to make it in Santa Barbara.”

Donations also help Sansum to purchase advanced diagnostic machines beyond what Sutter can provide, Ransohoff said.

“Having more equipment means shorter wait time,” he said.

“Philanthropic support can provide equipment that might not otherwise make sense financially, but it makes a big difference to the community.”

Private Santa Barbara-based funding also supports Sansum’s programs offering free diagnostic services for uninsured patients of the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, which have totaled more than $4 million over the last 14 years.

Most importantly, despite the new partnership with Sutter, every gift to Sansum Clinic stays in our community, Ransohoff stressed.

“We didn’t have a standing commitment that they were going to help close the compensation gap with some of our staff, but Sutter has provided $7 million of funding for rank-and-file staff of all different levels,” Ransohoff said. “They didn’t need to do it, but they’re aware of the fact that we live in a very expensive community and people are about as important a resource as we have.”

Despite the new partnership and Sutter’s investment in Sansum Clinic just over the first year, philanthropic giving to Sansum from within the local community remains vitally important. As a nonprofit healthcare organization, Sansum continues to rely on the generous support of community members, charitable organizations, and grateful patients in its pursuit of medical excellence. Private donations help to fund Sansum’s Physician Housing Program to continue to attract top caliber physicians from around the United States, an issue Ransohoff said has become exponentially more challenging than when he first came to the clinic 32 years ago.

“People might have a concern now that if they donate to healthcare in Santa Barbara, the funds will be shipped up to Sacramento. That’s simply not the case. Sutter is very good about understanding that there are a lot of services that an organization like Sansum provides to help meet the needs of the community, services that actually lose money. That’s true of many of our programs. It helps tremendously to have philanthropic support.”

Steven Libowitz has covered a plethora of topics for the Journal since 1997, and now leads our extensive arts and entertainment coverage

Coastal Quilters Guild of Santa Barbara & Goleta presents

Rachael Stein

Gabriella Garcia, Analise Maggio, and Erinn Lynch

Leaders from Sutter Health and its Greater Central Coast Division: Cynthia Lee, Lindsay Cortina, Kurt Ransohoff, Warner Thomas, Todd Smith, Lizz Vilardo, Jeffrey Hadsall, Marjorie Newman, Surani Hayre-Kwan, and Conrad Vial (courtesy photo)

Montecito Health Coach

Adrenaline: Friend or Foe?

by Deann Zampelli

Iam sitting in the shade of military-grade netting that has been – carelessly but effectively – erected to protect us from the relentless midday sun. The camouflaged men and sole woman are readying their weapons. Hip Hop blares in the background; more distraction than entertainment, but it also aids in dulling the soundtrack of automatic weapons being discharged on the not-too-distant hillside.

The camaraderie surfaces gently. The tightening of gear bags and face masks, the humorous jibes at someone’s modest height or lack of prowess at Fortnite. As the time draws near, the tension gathers like a pack of hungry dogs looking for sustenance after going too long without. This is Paintball. The diversion coveted by man-boys (and girls) of all shapes and sizes.

For about a minute I contemplated joining my then 14-year-old son and his eight friends on their four-hour excursion into battle. Then I remembered that I am a middle-aged, non-athletic, accident-prone Mom who doesn’t love guns. Which leaves me listening to spa music on my Airpods and writing in my journal. At Paintball. In Santa Maria. Did I mention that?

Armed with my favorite rollerball and a bag of Satsumas I prepare to watch the next round. My heart is pounding as I watch my first born and his troops enter the battlefield known as D-Day.

What is it that calls people to seek out games such as this? Is it the adrenaline? The need to be a part of a something bigger than normal life? The “Us Against Them” of it all? Or, is it just…fun?

Unlike real combat, Paintball has none of the potential for lethality but all of what is viewed as the upside; the thrill, the rush, the victories, and the shared defeats. It is primal.

But I still don’t get it. As someone who strives for equilibrium in life, I can’t relate to the need for the rush of adrenaline coursing through my veins. I say every cuss word I have ever learned on the rides at Disneyland. And not in a good way.

Why do some people crave it, and others don’t? The need for it can lead to addiction in some people – and similar to other addictions, more risk is eventually required to attain the same high. Adrenaline is a hormone that is made by the adrenal gland. It is released when the body senses danger and prepares us for the fight or flight response.

During the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake, I felt the force of it firsthand when my roommate was pinned under a 100-pound antique dresser, and I pulled it off of her like I was The Hulk and Wonder Woman’s love child (my apologies for not only mixing metaphors but comic book franchises). I was invincible. There was a gas leak, so we had to get out fast, but I still had the presence of mind to grab my wallet, passport (clearly, in case I needed to flee the country) and keys, and to slip on a pair of shoes that were by the door. We made our way through the detritus formerly known as our belongings to the street below where emergency vehicles waited with their silent but comforting lights aglow. It was only then that I noticed that my feet were wet.

In the panic to escape I apparently walked though ankle-deep layers of broken glass, not feeling a thing. My shoes were pooled with blood.

Get this, adrenaline not only gives you heightened awareness and super strength but dulls your pain sensors! Who knew?

So, I get why it is amazing, and how if you are in the Serengeti being chased by a leopard it can help you to survive. Yep. That’s a good thing. But to seek that feeling out? To chase it? The crash after your body regulates it is exhausting. Like having the flu, pneumonia, and morning sickness all at once. I had experienced it during a traumatic event, a need for survival. Surely my body knew this and reacted differently than it would to a game of Paintball. Or would it?

Nope. While adrenaline has evolutionary purposes, survival of the fittest and all of that, it can be released when watching a horror movie. That’s right. Freddy Krueger and a sniper attack in Kabul can trigger the same physiological response. The effect of which can last for up to an hour after the perceived threat is gone.

Long-term effects of increased adrenaline can cause anxiety, insomnia, weight gain, and heart attacks.

Even after positive events like a wedding you have been planning for months, a big family move or a work project there can be a huge emotional dump when the anticipated date has passed. Again, the parallel to addiction is staggering. Coming off any substance that quickly can cause withdrawal symptoms. Why would adrenaline be any different?

Which brings me back to my original thought. Why would some people seek this out and others not?

According to Dr. Ken Carter , Professor of Psychology at Oxford College of

Emory University and author of, Buzz! Inside the Minds of Thrill-Seekers, Daredevils and Adrenaline Junkies , it could be related to how much cortisol our bodies produce. Along with adrenaline, cortisol is another hormone that is produced that prepares us for our Fight or Flight response. He has found that “thrill seekers” don’t necessarily produce as much cortisol but do produce more of the “feel good hormone” – dopamine. Which for those of us listening at home means that when they face what some of us (picture my hand raised here) would view as a scary situation, they perceive the calamity as “This is fun!”

After four hours of being pelted with paint bullets, my ever-growing teen plopped down next to me, leaned his head on my shoulder and said, “Mom, can we go home now?” The crash had begun. The 45-minute car ride home,

while not silent, was a lot more mellow than the drive out – the fatigued teenagers’ heads bowed together in conspiracy, low voices sharing video clips of the day and Tik Tok nonsense from the day before. The boys began sharing the alarmingly large welts that were now forming on various parts of their bodies that had been hit. Some swelling as large as tennis balls. Sore backs and exhausted shoulders from carrying the heavy guns. Surely this was a one and done deal. Who would want to feel this way again? As we were pulling into our driveway I asked, “So, would you guys do this again?” and with a resounding roar, welts and bruises already forgotten, they shouted, “Yeah!”

I had to ask why. To which my son replied, “Because it’s fun, Mom.”

There you have it. Science and overthinking aside, sometimes it’s that simple.

University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in religion from Westminster Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s degree from Pepperdine University.

He contributed to the book Concepts of Nature: Ancient and Modern and co-edited Natural Law and Evangelical Political Thought

“Westmont Downtown: Conversations About Things That Matter” is a free lecture series sponsored by the Westmont Foundation, which also sponsors the annual Westmont President’s Breakfast in late February.

Students to Celebrate Summer Research

Nearly 40 students will present their summer research findings at the annual Celebration of Summer Research on Friday, Oct. 4, from 3:30-5 pm in the Winter Hall Atrium. The Celebration of Summer Research, sponsored by the Office of the Provost, is free and open to the public.

Students will present 19 posters representing the natural and behavioral sciences division (biology, chemistry, engineering, physics and psychology). Select titles include “How Does Diabetes Impact the Cognitive Functioning of those with Parkinson’s Disease?”; “Artificial Intelligence and Engineering Design: How AI Impacts a Suite of Design Innovation Methods”; “Finding Color in Colorless Molecules”; and “Lunar Rocket Landing Pad Stress Analysis.”

Westmont continues its long tradition of providing opportunities for students to join with their professors in cutting-edge research.

Scheffler Putter Raffle

As part of the Westmont Classic Golf Tournament, the college will raffle off a TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter with the cover autographed by Scottie Scheffler. The golf tournament, which raises funds for student scholarships, will be held on Friday, Oct. 4, from noon to 6 pm at Glen Annie Golf Club. A barbecue dinner follows at the Patio Bar and Grill.

Raffle tickets, which cost $20 each, 3 tickets for $50, or 10 tickets for $100, are available for purchase online at westmont. edu/golf-classic. You need not be present to win the same putter used by the twotime Masters champion, 13-time PGA Tour winner, Olympic Gold Medalist, reigning FedEx Tour Champion and the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer.

Robert’s Big Questions Death Isn’t Everything?

by Robert Bernstein

For over 30 years, we worked to get bicycle lanes and safe pedestrian crossings in Old Town Goleta. Endless meetings, hearings, studies, surveys and public input. It was never enough. Seven lanes were devoted to motor vehicles: Four traffic lanes, a center turn lane and two lanes for parking motor vehicles. But no room for bicyclists or refuges for pedestrians.

An argument that often came up: How many bicyclists and pedestrians died in those few blocks? Quite a few, actually. A friend recently posted this on her Facebook page:

Drivers are afraid that bicyclists and pedestrians will inconvenience them.

Bicyclists and pedestrians are afraid that drivers will kill them.

The asymmetry is striking. But is death everything? There are few deaths of pedestrians or bicyclists on Highway 101. Because it is not a place most bicyclists or pedestrians would go. One way to reduce deaths is to make a place so terrifying that no one would even try to be there.

And what about the fear and stress of bicyclists and pedestrians? Does it only count if they die?

After 30 years of struggle and public outcry, the current Goleta City Council showed the courage to reconfigure those blocks in the heart of Goleta for everyone. There are still five lanes devoted to motor vehicles. But now there is space for people not in steel cages.

There was immediate posturing and pandering by a few very vocal rabble rousers who were enraged that any space should be taken away from motorists. I hope these people are soundly defeated at the November election.

I wrote an article for my Edhat News column, calmly laying out the history and facts. Most comments were supportive. But the entitled motorists would have none of this. And the most interesting comments claimed that it is absurd to aim for no deaths by motor vehicles. Claiming that the deaths are “rare” and the inconvenience to prevent them is too high.

I am often on the other side of this: I get angry about invasive searches to prevent rare terrorist attacks. Because in fact those are rare events and millions of hours a year are wasted averting them. But deaths by motor vehicle are not rare.

And, again, perhaps this misses the point? Old Town Goleta is not supposed to be a freeway. It is supposed to be a place where people live, work, shop, play and attend community and recreational events.

For all we know, creating bike lanes and pedestrian crossings could increase deaths, at least in the short term. How? By inviting more people to bike and walk in an area where there are far too many motor vehicles. But even with more deaths, quality of life is improved. People are out and about, free to experience their community outside a vehicle. And maybe more people will choose that option and leave their cars behind. Making things safer for everyone.

And what about the fear and stress of bicyclists and pedestrians? Does it only count if they die?

I am reminded of the calls for “Peace with Justice.” The world could live in peace if everyone just surrendered to dictators and bullies. There would be few deaths in such a world. But is that the world we want? Trump claims he could end Putin’s war on Ukraine in one day. Presumably, by cutting off weapons to Ukraine and having them surrender. Do we want that? Would it end there? Perhaps Putin would see it as an invitation to repeat his behavior in other countries in the region?

The Climate Crisis has barely even started, but already there are millions of Climate Crisis refugees worldwide from drought and flooding. But maybe it is OK that they are forced from their homes as long as they don’t die?

Four million Black human beings were held as slaves in the U.S. at the time of the Civil War. Was that OK as long as they were treated as valuable property and not killed?

Instead, most people prefer a world where everybody feels secure and welcome in their homeland. Where everybody has freedom and a voice in how things are run. And where everybody has the option to move freely without being in an armored vehicle.

Robert Bernstein holds degrees from Physics departments of MIT and UCSB. His passion to understand the Big Questions of life, the universe and to be a good citizen of the planet. Visit facebook. com/questionbig

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they are too small.” – Richard Branson

Communication studies student Elise Short explains her research

The Spider Tour X putter

Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College

Foraging Thyme Fuyu Persimmons

by Melissa Petitto

The first time I had a persimmon was seven years ago upon moving to Santa Barbara. There are two main types found here, the Fuyu and the Hachiyas. Avila and Sons Farms has some of the first Fuyus in the Farmers Market. The Fuyu is considered a non-astringent persimmon, one that can be eaten hard or soft and with the skin on. The astringent types, like the Hachiyas, are inedible when firm and need to become extremely soft and ripe to be eaten. These sweet, orange-colored fruits are known for their honey-like flavor and can be eaten fresh, dried, or cooked. Persimmons are packed with nutrients such as potassium, manganese, and vitamins A, C, and B. Adding them to your diet has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes, especially because of their carotenoid and flavonoid compounds. The flavonoids and tannins in this tomato-shaped fruit has been shown to reduce blood pressure, help lower inflammation, as well as decrease cholesterol levels. We talk a lot about inflammation, and persimmons contain vitamin C, which we know is not only important for our immune support but also helps fight inflammation, a key cause of so many diseases. Another incredible health benefit of persimmons is their high levels of vitamin A, which is wonderful for our eye health. They contain lutein and zeaxanthin, which are carotenoid antioxidants that help lower the risk for certain eye diseases and age-related macular degeneration. Let’s take these powerful fruits into the kitchen.

Vanilla Bean – Persimmon Chia Pudding

Yield: 4 Servings

6 tablespoons chia seeds

2 cups plant-based milk (I love coconut milk here)

2 teaspoons vanilla paste or vanilla extract

4 each soft Fuyu persimmons

Pudding Layers

¼ cup favorite granola

¼ cup unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted

¼ cup pomegranate arils

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the chia seeds, milk, and vanilla paste. Cover and allow to bloom for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator.

2. Once the chia pudding is thick, remove from the fridge and assemble the puddings.

3. Halve the persimmons and scoop out the flesh into a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy.

4. In 4 small jars, place one tablespoon of granola into the bottom of each jar. Add 2 tablespoons of the chia pudding, 1 tablespoon of persimmon purée, 2 more tablespoons of chia pudding and 2 tablespoons more of persimmon purée. Top with 1 tablespoon of coconut flakes and 1 tablespoon of pomegranate arils. Repeat for the 4 jars.

5. Refrigerate until ready to eat. Great make-ahead breakfast!

Santa Barbara by the Glass Wine Country Jamboree:

Santa Barbara Vintners to Host Annual Fête this Month

by Gabe Saglie

Winemaker Steve Clifton is pretty familiar with the Santa Barbara Vintners Festival. His attendance later this month will be his 34th

“You get a chance to talk to the principals – the winemakers, the owners – and you’ve got all these wonderful wineries coming out from all over Santa Barbara County,” he told me recently as we walked the vines. “So, it’s a great day!”

That is, in fact, the greatest calling card of this annual event – the chance for consumers like you and me to get up close and personal with, and to mingle and party with, the women and men who make some of our favorite wines. It’s direct access. It’s a lot of one-on-one. And it elevates how we understand and enjoy what we sip.

Clifton continues, “It allows you, as a winemaker, to answer questions that otherwise go unanswered: What’s the motivation? The passion? The process? And it just draws more people into the Santa Barbara scene.”

The Santa Barbara Vintners Festival will turn 40 when it welcomes hundreds of budding oenophiles on October 19th. It’ll take place at Vega Vineyard & Farm in Buellton, a 200acre estate that was part of a Spanish land grant in the 1850s and was formerly known as Mosby Vineyards. SoCal transplants Karen and Jimmy Loizides, who also own the famous Maverick Saloon in the historic township of Santa Ynez, opened Vega two years ago, as a reimagined farm-to-table venue that features a working farm (complete with petting zoo), a fulltime chef, and an extensive lineup of estate wines – Italian varieties, mainly, expertly crafted by Clifton.

Rusack, Brander and Margerum, as well as boutique and newer players of note like Tomi, Slouch Hat, Dusty Nabor, Future Perfect, and Colluvial. And the wine is just the beginning. Here’s a shortlist of some of the other reasons the Santa Barbara Vintners Festival is a must-do event.

Melissa Petitto, R.D., is an executive chef and co-founder at Thymeless My Chef SB, was a celebrity personal chef for 16 years, just finished her 10th cookbook, and is an expert on nutrition and wellness.

The winemaker got a kick rattling them off to me: “Dolcetto, pinot grigio, Sagrantino, sangiovese, barbera, nebbiolo, malvasia bianca and Montepulciano – which is a really fun word to say!”

Clifton will be pouring alongside 50+ other wine brands that are members of Santa Barbara Vintners. This is one of the very few times of the year, actually, when consumers can find them all together in one place. They include stalwarts like Fess Parker, Gainey,

The Food: It’s a wine pairing extravaganza, thanks to the more than 25 of the region’s premier chefs, restaurants, bakers and purveyors who’ll be there, too. The Gathering Table will be a big draw – this is the new Solvang culinary gem from Chef Budi Kazali, formerly of the Ballard Inn, whose knack and creativity always impress. You’ll also find me at Rare Society, one of Santa Barbara’s best steakhouses, Pico, a gourmet draw in lovely Los Alamos, and the Tavern at Zaca Creek, a popular Buellton brasserie.

The Bubbly: Bubbles can be the perfect palate cleanser between sips and bites. The Bubble Lounge is back this year, offering guests a dedicated space to sample some of the best sparkling wines coming out of Santa Barbara County these days. More than a dozen labels will let the bubbles

SB by the Glass Page 364

MJ wine writer Gabe Saglie and winemaker Steve Clifton chatted about the upcoming Santa Barbara Vintners Festival while walking the vines at Vega Vineyard

The decadent and vitamin-packed Fuyu persimmon (photo by Frank Schulenburg)

flow, including Foxen, The Hilt Estate, Dreamcôte, Presqu’ile and Folded Hills.

The Music: Breaking out into spontaneous swaying is allowed, and Generic Clapton will be there to help. Back by popular demand, the band is known for its groovy vibe and its toe-tapping takes on classic rock and R&B, with dashes of soul and classic American sounds.

The Weekend: The Saturday festival is surrounded by myriad reasons to make this a weekend escape, not just an afternoon visit. Several wineries will be hosting unique tasting and special-access events starting on Thursday the 17th and stretching all the way into Monday the 21st. That makes this October weekend, at the peak of harvest season, a perfect chance to discover the six towns that make up the Santa Ynez Valley – Buellton, Solvang, Los Olivos, Los Alamos, Ballard, and Santa Ynez. There are plenty of places to stay, from the eclectic Skyview roadside motel in Los Alamos to the luxe Fess Parker Wine Country Inn in Los Olivos. My wife and I recently spent the weekend in

the township of Santa Ynez, at the new Genevieve, an elegant, relaxed, secluded getaway that put us walking distance to the town’s boutiques, top-tier eateries –like SY Kitchen and Ellie’s Tap & Vine – and tasting rooms, including the newly-revamped CrossHatch and the new-

ly-opened Artiste. Reserve soon, as some of the best places to stay will sell out.

Let’s talk tickets. General admission to the Saturday festival, which runs 1-4 pm, costs $125, though the $175 Early Entry ticket gets you in at noon. There’s a Private Cabana package priced at $2,500, which gets you a private cabana in the heart of all the action, along with eight Early Entry tickets, two parking passes, wine and charcuterie, and a halfcase of Santa Barbara County wines to take home. Designated drivers, and kids between the ages of six and 20, can attend for $25.

Get your tickets at sbvintnersweekend. com, and I’ll see you there!

SUNDAY THRU THURSDAY 7:30 AM - 10:00 PM FRIDAY AND SATURDAY 7:30 AM - 12:00 PM

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AM7:0012:00AM

D’ANGELO BREAD

A historic 1853 adobe will be one of the various venues on the sprawling grounds of Vega Vineyard in Buellton that will host festival goers

Food will be part of the festival, too, with participation from more than 25 chefs

More than 50 winery brands will pour during the October 19th Vintners Festival

Gabe Saglie has been covering the Santa Barbara wine scene for more than 15 years through columns, TV, and radio. He’s a senior editor with Travelzoo and is a leading expert on travel deals, tips, and trends.

from the people that so many of us worshiped,” Bragger said. “Getting him out here is a real big deal.”

The list also includes Canadian fiddler Scott Prouty, Kansas guitar duo Spencer & Rains, Alabama fiddler Jimmy Triplett, and a whole host of California musicians. For true purists, however, nothing compares to wandering around the festival and joining or just listening to the jam session, the closest one can come to the anachronistic atmosphere of simple folks just playing their instruments, with whoever shows up and without amplification.

“That’s what old time music is,” Bragger said. “This is the music people played at home with their friends.”

Visit https://fiddlersfestival.org

Festival Fever: Powwow and the Power of the Avo

Carpinteria goes green again this weekend courtesy of The California Avocado Festival, the free fest dedicated to the locally grown fruit that also serves as a massive musical extravaganza. The Avo Fest is also fully back to its pre-pandemic glory, stretching for three days and several city blocks, encompassing four stages of music including the revived youth stage. Sounds come from every corner of the area, from Carp locals South on Linden and The Rincons to Santa Barbara favorites Spencer the Gardener, The New Vibe, Cornerstone and the Ska Daddys, to Ventura’s country veterans Caught Red Handed and Grateful Deadheads Shaky Feelin’ – an avo-lanche of some 72 acts in all.

“We tell people if you don’t like the music or you’re bored, just walk a block to another stage,” said Olivia Sorgman, the festival director. “There’s a lot of music.”

Other highlights include the Guacamole World Championship Contest judged by dignitaries of all stripes; auctions of this year’s largest Avocado and avocado trees; the “World Largest Vat of Guacamole” made from 3,000 pounds of avocados mashed and sold by Carpinteria High School Cheerleaders; and food, gifts and avocado art from 75 vendors lining the street.

The Avocado Strong Arm Contest finds participants holding up a 10-pound bag of the fruit with one outstretched arm till they give up.

“Whoever’s standing at the end is the big winner,” Sorgman said. “They get an REI gift card, a stuffed swag bag, and best of all, full bragging rights for the weekend.”

The 38th Annual California Avocado Festival is expected to draw about 40,000 people to the seaside city for the October 4-6 celebration. Visit avofest.com

Pivoting to First Peoples, Native American tribes from throughout North America come together in Santa Ynez to celebrate their heritage for the 27th annual Chumash Intertribal Powwow on October 5-6. The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians’ largest cultural event of the year – relocated two years ago from the Live Oak Camp to the tribe’s sacred tribal grounds – features competitions and performances in dancing, singing and drumming, plus arts, crafts and more. A gourd dance followed by a grand entry parade of hundreds of members of tribal nations launches each day’s activities, which include competition in age categories from youth to 70s, and a wide variety of dance styles including grass, jingle dress, buckskin, cloth, chicken and more.

The powwow is open to the public with $5 admission including parking, and informational booths can help plan your experience. Visit https://chumash.gov/powwow

Elings Ever After

Johnny Irion never sounds more like Neil Young, one of his main influences, than when he’s playing acoustically, as he did as the co-headliner of the second annual Local Vibes concert at Elings Park – which by the way is still a vastly underutilized facility for concerts and such. This year, thankfully, the glaring lighting behind the stage as well as the field lights were turned off about 15 minutes after they went on after dark, making for a far more comfortable experience for the fans, and a better atmosphere for acoustic Irion, whose voice evinces a sweet and innocent yet haunting quality, cutting through the simplicity of his most recent songs. Irion’s local residency – the former Montecitan now spends most of the year at his home on a farm in the Berkshires in Western Mass – winds up with a very different show, his official CD-release party for the new album Sleeping Soldiers of Love with his rockin’ West Coast band U.S. Elevator at SOhO on October 5. Doublewide Kings went the opposite direction from Irion, amping up and adding on for the Elings Park performance. Last year the country-classic rockers brought in the versatile local guitarist-singer Jackson Gillies as a sub for their unavailable missing lead guitarist. Gillies fit in so superbly after just a single rehearsal that they brought him back as a guest this year despite the presence of the full DWK band. All the better for the Kings’ winning take on Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, CSN&Y, John Fogerty, and other classic rockers with a harmony-filled, double lead-guitar treatment.

Catch both the Kings and Gillies at the Avo Fest this weekend.

Talk It Up

UCSB A&L launches the season debut of the “L” part of their name with a lecture by Salman Khan, the much-valued visionary behind educational nonprofit Khan Academy, which seeks to remove the barriers to education that leave over 600 million children lacking basic math and reading skills. His free curriculum, available to all at any time, has made a massive impact, with its videos offering practice exercises, instructional lessons, and a personalized dashboard to help students learn at their own pace. Khan’s platform has reached over a billion views. Now he is using the power of AI to make education even more accessible with the introduction of the revolutionary Khanmigo, an AI-powered personal tutor that The Washington Post calls “the best model we have for how to develop and implement AI for the public good.” Khan’s talk, titled after his new book Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That’s a Good Thing), is slated for October 5 at the Arlington Theatre.

The following day, Malcolm Gladwell, the Canadian author who has placed five books on the New York Times bestseller list – The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath – shows up across the street at the Granada for a book tour that sees his return to the topic of his first big influential book from a quarter-century ago. Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering revisits the subject of social epidemics, taking a stab at explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena, including the biggest epidemics of our day in COVID and the opioid crisis. Gladwell’s most personal book yet employs his characteristic mix of storytelling and social science to serve as a guide to making sense of the contagions of the modern world. Details and tickets at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu

Focus on Film: Beyond the Border at UCSB, Robots and Robbie at the Riviera

UCSB’s Carsey-Wolf Center kicks off its CWC Docs series on October 8 with Borderland | The Line Within, the uber-timely investigation of immigration that dives into the border-industrial complex – the way businesses profit through the undocumented workers and the attendant human cost. The film, which was produced over five years with the assistance of three “experimental digital humanists,” will be followed by a discussion with director Pamela Yates – who executive produced the Academy Award-winning Witness to War – and UCSB Chicano Studies prof Giovanni Batz. Visit www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu/pollock

The Wild Robot, the animated science fiction survival film based on the book series by Peter Brown and featuring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o, Catherine O’Hara, Stephanie Hsu, and Ving Rhames, opened last weekend to rave reviews from both critics and moviegoers, who made the movie tops at the box office. Saturday at 11 am, SBIFF screens the film for free, followed by a Q&A with writer and director Chris Sanders, who adapted Brown’s books about a robot shipwrecked on an uninhabited island who builds relationships with the local wildlife, including serving as the adoptive mother of an orphaned goose.

There’s also a bit of (reverse) anthropomorphism at the Riviera later in the day with Better Man, a biopic about the British pop singer Robbie Williams, who also stars but is portrayed as a monkey using motion-capture technology. The movie, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival but isn’t slated to open until January, gets a Cinema Society preview at the Riviera at 5 pm, followed by a talk with writer-director Michael Gracey Visit https://sbiffriviera.com

Join Native American tribes from throughout North America at the 27th annual Chumash Intertribal Powwow this weekend (courtesy photo)

decide anything,” he says definitively. “None of my process has any level of consciousness. There is no planning. Whatever happens, happens.” This alchemy of the id has thus far yielded the appropriate revelations.

Raised by overworked parents, Pillado somewhat painfully found his way forward. “We lived in this small town and my mother had four kids and was a teacher in the countryside. My father was a workaholic.” Carlos’ solitude and interiority would later blossom as art, but at the time was crippling. Help arrived, along with the beginnings of a conscious Self.

“When I started sharing time with my grandparents, for the first time I am being seen.” Pillado’s eyes glisten. “To them I was present. My grandparents were able to register that there was a kid in front of them, a kid that needed them desperately. They allowed me to be vulnerable. They allowed me to cry in front of them. They allowed me to share the most beautiful time with them. They protected me. They loved

me. They believed in me.” Pillado’s variously solitary and loving upbringing would lead to years of emotional confusion and therapy.

At 18 he entered the Argentine military and did his compulsory 14 months of service. “Then I joined the university and for five years all I did was school.” His major was political science, in which he took just enough interest to finish the program. His studies did, however, inform his first step away from things familiar and into a beckoning larger world. “My thesis was about Mexico’s political system,” he says, all but shrugging. “So I went to Mexico and stayed awhile. And then I came to the United States.”

Cow Hollow Meets the Art Impulse

The rest of Carlos’ life – and the art that would be its guiding, unwavering flame – awaited his arrival with respectful patience. Once in the States, he made it to San Francisco, and we may

imagine a starry-eyed young Argentine guy navigating the paved hills and glass skyscrapers with a suitcase in hand. This image is no more foolishly cinematic than what would soon actually come to pass.

“I started at San Francisco State University,” he says. “I got all the information and letters from professors, all the recommendations.” He responds levelly to my expectant expression. “It didn’t work out.” Here comes the rest of his life. “So I started working at Pane e Vino in San Francisco in 1991.”

The restaurant was located in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow neighborhood, coveted bastion of galleries, boutiques, and stylish, swinging eateries. Working his way up in classical aspirational fashion from busboy to businessman, over the decades Pillado made a life, becoming a partner to Pietro Bernardi in the Pane e Vino operation and gaining a sort of vast, loving, adoptive clan in the process, to which he would add his own dear Bay area family. “I got married and I have two kids. I worked with Sarah for almost 20 years, and then the marriage ended. Through all this,” he says empathically, “Panino was always something very stable in my life.”

In 2003 a corner was turned. It was a very consequential year for Pillado, a turbulent time whose details he won’t articulate. It was, tellingly, the year that pushed him to art. “I was not able to put into words what I was feeling at the time, but I found I was able to portray all that information with my art. Of course you feel isolated and the inner sense and feelings are very hard to share. But my kids grew up with paintings underneath their beds, on top of their closet, inside their closets. The house was always packed with paintings.”

Pillado’s expressionist oeuvre grew, both therapeutically and aesthetically, leading him to a fuller understanding of self, and of a past that had been holding him back. “That kid, I didn’t like him. He was always suffering and always sad and always troubled and depressed. I didn’t like him at all. So one day I got to see him for who he was and what he went through. And it was amazing. There is so much information in that pain that you get to know yourself. That’s what my art means.”

With the closure of Via Vai and relocation of his work to Studio 44, Carlos Pillado will be seeing his salvaged heart on display in Stephanie Kaster’s incomparable gallery, Studio 44. And we’ll see it, too. However much Carlos’ thousands of brushstrokes manifested as healing over the years, the work itself is deeply affecting eye candy, honestly. Completely untrained and indebted to no one sty -

ON THE SIDE

“Oh, de Toilette!” Porcelain Power in The Riv

Whencompared to something like…oh… Artificial Superintelligence ® – a commode can seem downright déclassé. But the homely toilet is as indispensable as innovations get. The long defunct Roman Empire is still high-fiving itself over its fantastic aqueducts and marvelous waste-disposal technologies. You can’t conquer the known world if you have to wee-wee all the time. But have you heard of the modern Tokyo Toilet project? Are you even vaguely acquainted with Monty Ravenscroft’s Hide-aLoo? You lucky people. The Riv ’s current glamor issue features a bevy of insightful toilet talk, and you’ll notice –despite our pleased swagger –about 14 feet of tissue trailing our Louis Vuitton Manhattan Richelieus. Ah, douce majesté de la vie…

listically, Pillado’s work has the maximalist emotional pull of a Chagall or Klee – functional, complex joy from deep within a well of liberated color. Wounds are salved with such stuff, and we are the beneficiaries. Carlos sees it more plainly.

“It’s just an experience, and it is there, and it’s for me. And I feel complete.”

A Collection of paintings by Carlos Pillado –Exhibition and Reception

Friday, October 11, 5 – 7pm Studio 44 – 1482 E. Valley Road

RSVP / Text Carlos: (805) 969-6939

Hosted by Stephanie Kaster

Jeff Wing is a journalist, raconteur, autodidact, and polysyllable enthusiast. He has been writing about Montecito and environs since before some people were born. He can be reached at jeff@ montecitojournal.net

Carlos Pillado – An artist

My Brother and I by Pillado

Flowers for Doris – 11x14” Acrylic on Canvas

Meeting at MA

Biltmore and More at October’s Land Use Meeting

by Joanne A Calitri

The Montecito Association Land Use September meeting was held in person at the Montecito Library community room, and on Zoom.

The meeting was led by its Chair, Dorinne Lee Johnson . Attendees were the Land Use Committee members, Montecito Association Executive Director Houghton Hyatt , MA President Doug Black , Supervisor Williams’ Chief of Staff Darcel Elliott, and Fire Chief David Neels

The main agenda item was the presentation updates on the Four Seasons Biltmore project by Vice President P. Sean Lavelle , President of L&P Consultants Mark Lloyd , land use Attorney Chip Wullbrandt, and Community Relations Manager Erin Lynch. Lavelle’s project updates were supported with the PowerPoint presentation by Lynch, and large-scale architectural color drawings.

Lavelle outlined the history of the hotel as a point of reference to the new plan’s alignment with it in the context of historic preservation. He pointed out that there have been two peer reviews of the plans by historic preservation architects to fact check each other, and two additional historic preservation architects that worked on it. His presentation’s salient points are as follows:

- Ty Warner’s goal is for the resort to be the best resort in the U.S.

- Following its closure during COVID to date, Warner researched the current trends in travel and found that the current hotel needed to meet those needs; to provide for multi-generational family units traveling together who want larger rooms, luxury dining and longer stays.

- To accommodate multi-generational families, the plans will reduce the number of rooms from 230 to 136, by combining rooms to make them larger.

- The two cottages slated to be moved were built in 1976 and are not historic. They will be moved elsewhere on the property and eventually be combined into one residential house on Hill Road.

- The Four Seasons Group, who owned the hotel prior to Warner and will continue to do so, said the hotel will not open without adequate recreational pools for the guests.

- A number of false rumors about the renovations have surfaced, the main one being that the pool will go in the front lawn across from the ocean. This is not true. The new pools are going where the eucalyptus grove was, and that grove was taken down for reasons to do with fire safety a while ago. The lawn which will be reduced is known as the “wedding lawn” and that is in the middle of the hotel, not the front.

- The existing pool suffices for a 50-room hotel. It will be used as an adult / quiet pool. Two additional pools will be built for children and families. One of those pools is approximately 3’ deep with the same warmed sand entrance to it that was in the historic original pool. The second pool is a series of smaller inlets sectioned for families connected by the “lazy river” feature. For filtration reasons, the river will flow, but it is not intended for rafts, etc. These pools are for hotel guests only. The Conditional Use Permit allows for pools. The pools are in the area of the property that was flooded during the mudslides.

- The high-profile guests who patronize the hotel do not want paparazzi interference. Every aspect of the hotel was reviewed so the guests and the common areas, like the pools, will not be seen from the sidewalk, street, etc.

- The restaurant will be upgraded to a luxury resort standard and will include outdoor dining on the patio. The dining patio/deck is already approved.

- The hotel will not be catering to large corporate events as in the past. That change alone reduces the traffic along the road and reduces the water and sewage use of the property.

- The hotel once updated will provide $15.7 million TOT and Sales Tax, bringing increased revenue to SBC.

- For the 11 bungalows, there will be 41 spas. 6’ high fencing is required with a spa, which they will hide in the landscaping and hedges, which also increases privacy. These spas are similar to the ones they have at the San Ysidro Ranch.

- Changes since our September meeting with MBAR include the patio for dining, the fitness center doors, and the palapa on the pool island. No pool can be constructed in the “wedding garden.”

- Fire Chief Neels stated that Montecito Fire Protection District reviewed the plans for the Four Seasons

Biltmore regarding defensible space, scrubs, and related fire prevention issues for compliance.

- Their deadline for approval is this October, and to have a MPC meeting October 16. From there they can start work to be finished in 2025. Waiting for the project to start, and expected to be present at the MPC meeting, are the 172 employees [out of the 350] who said they want to return to work at the Biltmore.

Following the presentation, a Q&A ensued by the Land Committee Board, Douglas and Lee, and the attending public. The majority expressed their support for the plans and thanked the Ty Warner team. The Land Use Committee moved to a vote to support the Biltmore project and refer it to the Montecito Association, and to write a letter of support to the Montecito Planning Commission to approve it and also to approve the move of the two cottages.

The next agenda item was Doug Black who presented the letter from the Montecito Association to the SBC Board of Supervisors, regarding their position on the proposed Miramar Housing Mixed Use project, in relation to its affordable housing component and the associated retail and commercial development. (See letter below)

Dear Supervisors and Commissioners:

On behalf of the Montecito Association, I am writing to express our position on the proposed Miramar Housing Mixed Use project, particularly in relation to its affordable housing component and the associated retail and commercial development.

First, we want to emphasize our support for affordable housing in our community, especially housing that benefits the local workforce. The inclusion of 26 affordable units for resort employ-

ees is a positive step toward addressing the housing needs in the Santa Barbara area and helps the County meet its RHNA allocation for affordable housing. We recognize that affordable housing can fall within the jurisdiction of the County Planning Commission, as outlined in County Code Section 2-25.2(b)(3), and we appreciate the Planning Department’s efforts to ensure compliance with the County’s Housing Element and the Housing Accountability Act.

However, because this is a mixed-use project with significant commercial/ retail square footage, impacting commercial activities in Montecito as well as adjacent residential neighborhoods, we believe the Board of Supervisors should, under Santa Barbara County Code section 2-25.2(b), direct that the Montecito Planning Commission have jurisdiction for review of this project. The Montecito Planning Commission was created to authorize a cohort of decision-makers intimately familiar with Montecito to review, condition, and approve projects to be that are compatible with the Montecito Community Plan.

It is our view that the project should not bypass the appropriate local oversight and review channels. This is in line with the powers and duties set forth in County Code Section 2-25.2, which governs the respective roles of the County and Montecito Planning Commissions. We believe this will provide a thorough and transparent review of all elements of the development, consistent with the expectations of our community.

Thank you for considering the Montecito Association’s input on this important project. We look forward to continued collaboration with the County and the Planning Commission to ensure the best outcomes for our community.

Sincerely,

Doug Black President

A rendering of the proposed pool (courtesy photo)

services like heated pools, hairstyle and fitness salons, guestrooms for visiting family and friends, dining and takeout services for meals or entertaining, and the added safety of 24-hour on-site security.

The original county entitlement for the Miramar Beach Resort was 186 keys. Through the 12-year planning approval process, the number of guestrooms was voluntarily reduced by the Miramar to its current size of 119 rooms and 34 suites, for a total of 153 keys on 16 acres of prime, ocean-front real estate. That’s very low-density for a beachfront resort, and a shortfall of 33 keys below the original entitlements. The addition of eight highly desirable, long-term stay units with two or three bedrooms is no threat to the character of the resort, nor to the Montecito community.

The Addition of a Dozen Luxury Specialty Shops

Many of the world’s finest resorts, especially beachfront resorts, are adding quiet luxury specialty shops as a required 5-star amenity for guests and nearby neighbors seeking a relaxed personal experience. Luxury retail is undergoing a defining transformation in its efforts to attract a larger share of the highly desirable new millennials and Gen Z resort guests, ages 20 to 45 – the most coveted affluent shoppers.

Guests willing to pay several thousand dollars a night for a fantasy weekend or an anniversary offer a concentrated target market for high-end retailers. At the Miramar, new high-end spenders check in or out every day, bringing a continuous flow of ideal millennials and Gen Z target market customers every 24-hours.

Luxury retail shops have been fleeing Santa Barbara like rats on roller-skates. Saks and Nordstrom have shuttered on State Street; Tiffany and Luis Vuitton have closed at La Cumbre. They are being replaced by T-shirt shops and tourist traps. Digitally savvy, affluent millennials and Generation Z shoppers are seeking casualwear that offers an expression of freedom – a mixture of casual and playful designs. They want luxury accessories that add a unique personal statement.

Miramar guests have both the time and financial ability to pursue luxury products during their stay. In Rick Caruso, we have a world-class genius in reinventing high-end shopping experiences that combine quality products with convenience and personal service. Many residents of Montecito enjoy browsing specialty boutiques to keep abreast of new products and new trends.

Opponents of the Miramar’s improvement plan have focused on the retail component as the weakest link in the Miramar proposed upgrades. They have falsely labeled the additional shops as: “A major shopping mall that will destroy the character of the Montecito neighborhood.”

Take a closer look at the proposed retail additions. Miramar guests and local visitors will exit the 101, stop at the top of the on-ramp at Eucalyptus Lane, and proceed down the San Ysidro on-ramp to enter the Miramar Resort entrance to valet park. There will be no vehicle or pedestrian access from Eucalyptus Drive. That means no neighborhood visibility of shops, no retail sign visibility and no specialty shop parking. That is not my definition of a “shopping mall.” If opponents want to keep frightening people by calling this request a “shopping mall,” go ahead, but please stop distorting the truth.

Will the added shops destroy the character of the Montecito community, as opponents claim?

I find this a hard case to make. Montecito is a semi-rural, casually elegant village of unparalleled natural beauty. We try desperately to preserve our village character – small roads built for beauty, not for speed of traffic; exceptional schools; secluded homes hidden behind stone walls and hedges; and world-class resorts tucked between the mountains and the sea. We want to preserve Montecito as a place of natural beauty and charm, free from urban crime, high-density housing, homelessness, squalor and urban decay. The Miramar is an important part of this aura of “casual elegance.”

It is ironic that local neighbors who fought the hardest to block the Miramar have benefitted the most economically since the Miramar opened in February 2019. It is difficult to argue that the addition of a few luxury resort shops that can only be accessed through the existing entrance to the hotel, with no access to the neighboring community, will have a negative impact on nearby homes that have enjoyed 50 to 100% increases in neighborhood home values since the Miramar opened. The fact is that the neighborhood has become far more attractive and desirable as evidenced by the residential price increases.

Like most Montecito residents, I hope that Rick Caruso and his talented team are allowed, like any other good neighbor, to do whatever he thinks best for his 16 acre-site, so long as he meets zoning codes and does not violate his existing conditions of approval.

Concern Over Neighborhood Sightlines

The opposition group has expressed concern over the height of new shops and longterm-stay units. In response, the Caruso team has already cut their plan from three-stories to two and reduced the retail square footage by a third to placate neighbors.

Drive the neighborhood yourself. Park in the All Saints-by-the-Sea parking lot. The view from the parking lot is the only partial mountain view affected by the Miramar

Miramar affordable employee housing

Miramar shops with apartments above

request. Not one single home along the beachfront, or Eucalyptus Lane, Miramar Lane, or Humphrey Road, or any other neighborhood street, will lose its mountain sightlines.

What’s Best for Montecito?

Most importantly for members of the Santa Barbara County Planning Commissioners, Rick Caruso deserves enormous credit for partnering with the Montecito community – listening to our concerns, modifying his plans, committing additional funding, and delivering a superb, community-based product. That is rare for an uber-wealthy businessman. That should count for something in obtaining his new approvals.

Long-time planning commissioners such as Laura M. Bridley and C. Michael Cooney who have fought so hard to preserve and improve such Montecito “crown jewels” as Lotusland and Casa del Herrero, should extend the same support to the Rosewood Miramar, which has transformed Miramar Beach, Hammond’s Beach and

Butterfly Beach into a stroller’s beachfront paradise from Olive Mill/Channel Drive to San Ysidro/Eucalyptus Lane.

Mr. Hazard is a guest columnist of this paper and a former president of Birnam Wood Golf Club

We need to treat Rick Caruso as a welcome neighbor. If we keep punishing him with hideously-expensive permitting processes and claims that are “as thin as the broth made from the shadow of a chicken” that somehow a few added shops will destroy the character of this community, he can become exhausted by the process and sell the Miramar to an offshore sheik or a Wall Street real estate private equity firm, whose mission is to maximize profits, cut employee costs and care less about this community. Wouldn’t that be a community tragedy?

What Has Been the History of the Miramar Resort?

The history of the Miramar Resort dates to 1876 when Josiah and Emmaline Doulton, purchased a 20-acre oceanfront farm in Montecito. In 1889, the couple built a separate cottage for family and friends, before later adding wooden wings to both ends for guests. By 1910, there were 29 wooden structures on the property. The Doulton family named their project “The Miramar,” which in Spanish means “Behold, the Sea.”

Josiah Doulton struggled through the 1930s depression years and finally sold his small and aging Miramar property for $60,000 in November 1939 to Paul Gawzner. During the World War II years, and for 53 years thereafter, the Gawzner family ran the Miramar Hotel on the 101 Highway, with its blue-roofed bungalows and a tethered offshore ocean platform for warm-blooded swimmers.

Rick Caruso was among those who formed fond childhood memories of the blue roof Miramar cottages and swimming off the ocean platform at Miramar Beach in the 1960s and ‘70s.

By the late ‘90s, Gawzner faced both severe deferred maintenance costs on the Miramar and pending bankruptcy. He elected to sell his by-then distressed wooden cottages, to Ian Schrager of Studio 54 fame, who in 1998 paid $31.7 million for a 16-acre beachfront site, with wooden cottages and the zoning entitlements to build a luxury resort.

The blue-roofed Miramar closed for good on September 10, 2000. Over the next two years, Schrager tried but could not find a way to make the development of a luxury resort work financially. In 2005, running out of money, a frustrated Schrager gave up and sold the closed hotel, with its abandoned wooden cottages and the entitlements, to Beanie Baby Billionaire Ty Warner for $43 million.

Warner hoped to build a new oceanfront resort to complement his existing Four Seasons Santa Barbara Biltmore and his bucolic San Ysidro Ranch. Frustrated by severe neighborhood opposition to badly needed renovations at his beachfront Coral Casino and his Four Seasons Santa Barbara Biltmore, Warner worked unsuccessfully with county planning and Miramar’s neighbors before finally giving up and offloading the site in January 2007 to L.A. businessman and self-made developer, who has built some of the country’s most successful shopping centers, Rick Caruso, for $52 million.

That decision kicked off an intensive 12-year effort by the Caruso team to submit multiple designs to win approval from more than 20 environmental impact agencies, neighborhood Naysayers and Montecito NIMBYs.

Permission to move forward by the county was finally granted in 2015 on a 4 to 1 vote of the County Board of Supervisors for conditional, but not final approval. The Rosewood Miramar Beach Resort finally opened in mid-February 2019, 12 years after Caruso purchased the site.

What was the condition of the Miramar site before and after its purchase by Rick Caruso?

Most of us have forgotten, or only dimly remember, the Miramar site when Caruso purchased it in 2007. As the gateway to Montecito, the highly-visible site could best be described as a tragedy in search of a disaster. It contained a collection of squalid, rotted and ruined shacks and shanties with boarded up windows, broken glass, peeling paint, doors falling off hinges, and decayed cottages filled with asbestos and mold. Cottage residents consisted of oversized rats. On occasion, a few homeless would sneak through the porous chain-link fence to illegally bed-down amidst the squalor.

The site should have been condemned by the county as a health hazard years before to prevent a community bubonic plague epidemic. The overgrown tinder-dry weeds represented an ominous eyesore and a calamitous fire hazard for the community. Neither Caruso nor the county had the power to bulldoze the rotted cottages and clean up the site until final permits were approved.

The accompanying row of Miramar beachfront homes was already suffering its first whiffs of shabbiness and decay, given the Coastal Commission’s refusal to allow beachfront modifications. The area desperately needed a facelift to reverse depressed neighborhood property values. Caruso was seen as the acknowledged savior.

Am I Biased Toward the Owner of the Miramar, Rick Caruso?

Probably yes! In my 37-year business career in the hotel and hospitality industry, before retiring and moving to Montecito, I had the privilege of serving as president, chief executive officer, and/or chairman of the board for two of the five largest hotel chains in the world, growing each from a handful of economy motels into two respected mid-priced hotel brands of 6,000 inns and hotels with more than 650,000 guest rooms. I had years of experience helping some 5,000 hotel builders, purchasers, and developers navigate the slippery slope of gaining permits and approvals for our brands of inns, and then upgrading and remodeling them to gain additional occupancy and rate.

From Caruso’s purchase of the Miramar in January 2007 until the opening of the new resort in February 2019, I spent 12 retirement years as Associate Editor and a weekly columnist for the Montecito Journal, covering an endless procession of legal challenges, hearings and environmental impact reviews needed to win approval for The Miramar and other high-profile improvement projects in Montecito.

Never has a project in Montecito (except maybe some of Ty Warner’s endeavors) endured such scrutiny of neighborhood input, planning thoroughness and more expensive permitting than the Rosewood Miramar Beach Resort. Most would argue that the final result was worth the process, but I can tell you from professional experience that no other luxury resort owner except Rick Caruso would have endured the pain and punishment, or the added cost, of the ponderous planning and permitting “conditions of approval process” in Montecito.

Tuscany for six guests for $11,000 –which sold twice – a three-night stay in Los Cabos for $6,500, a two-night stay at the Belmond El Encanto for $4,500, and four nights in Mexico’s Riviera Maya for $5,500.

Oncologist Dr. Fred Kass was honored with the inaugural Healing through Compassion Award, paying tribute to luminaries whose unwavering commitment to patient care transcends medical expertise to embrace the holistic needs of patients.

Armando Martinez, Felicia Fadlon, Julia Wynn Carr, Chef Adam Montalvo, Christine Montalvo, Jean Jarvaise, and Marie Halton (photo by Miki Rakicevic)

Al and Toni Amorteguy, Erin Graffy, and Rosalind and Toby Myerson (photo

Supporters included executive director Silvana Kelly, Peter Hilf (just back from Chile), Dr. Richard and Nora Scheinberg, Roger and Robin Himowitz , Susan Ferguson , Peter and Kathy Halper, Evie Sullivan, and Norman and Kathleen Williams.

The Woman Behind the Building

Victoria Kastner, historian at William Randolph Hearst’s San Simeon for 38 years, gave a captivating lecture at the Santa Barbara Club to Montecito Bank & Trust’s MClub, focusing on the publishing magnate’s trailblazing architect Julia Morgan who designed more than 700 buildings in California.

Morgan, who died in 1957 at age 85, was the first woman to be admitted to the architecture program at L’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, and the first woman architect licensed in California. Kastner has written three volumes of work on Hearst Castle.

Among those paying rapt attention were Maria McCall, Mara Abboud, Sue Adams, Hiroko Benko, Brenda Blalock, Erin Graffy, Anne Luther, Keith Moore , Katherine MurrayMorse, and Brendon Twigden.

Seasonal Revel-ry

Susan Keller’s Santa Barbara Revels threw a Revels Equinox concert in the Lobero Theatre Courtyard, celebrating the changing seasons.

In December, the group – under new musical director Dauri Kennedy – will host its 9th annual equinox concert, The Ghosts of Haddon Hall, at the Lobero (which I last saw 11 years ago).

Music to include the 16th century Yuletide classic “Gaudete,” “Silent Night,” “Greensleeves,” “Yarmouth Fair,” wrapping with a rousing performance of “La Bamba.”

Bubbles and Bass

Santa Barbara Symphony, under maestro Nir Kabaretti, previewed its latest season with a champagne reception at the Lobero Theatre.

One of the highlights is a two-day Mozart Marathon with eight masterworks, a two-concert performance by the legendary violinist Gil Shaham with Pink Martini singer Storm Large, and Brahms’ “Requiem.”

“It’s a rich and culturally empowering experience,” Nir told the packed theater, as he spoke onstage with board chair Janet Garufis and symphony CEO Kathryn Martin

Another highlight is the showing of the cinematic classic The Gold Rush, starring Charlie Chaplin, who directed,

by Priscilla)

Sandra Stingle, Hildegard Gray, Keith Moore, Brenda Blalock, and Diane Boss (photo by Priscilla)

Paula Lopez, Tanya Brody, Dauri Kennedy, Erin McKibben, Grace Wenzel, and Erik Bell (courtesy photo)

Dusty Baker, Fallon Baker, Cristian David, and Greg Moss (photo by Miki Rakicevic)

M Club’s Maria McCall with author Victoria Kastner (photo by Priscilla)

Symphony supporters and cultural ambassadors George and Denise Lilly (courtesy photo)

Luis Moreno, a popular Revels participant and well-known local Mexican music specialist (courtesy photo)

The inaugural Healing through Compassion Award was given to Dr. Fred Kass (photo by Miki Rakicevic)

starred in, and wrote the score for the movie, which the symphony will play.

The season starts on October 18 and runs through May 25 at the Granada.

Supporters checking out the latest performance schedule included Dan and Meg Burnham, Ricardo Calderon, Glenn and Claire VanBlaricum, Sally and Farrokh Nazerian, Barbara Burger, Marilyn Gilbert, Renee Grubb, Sam and Alene Hedgpeth, Joan Rutkowski, Mahri Kerley, Palmer and Susan Jackson, Chris Lancashire, Gretchen Lieff, Dick and Marilyn Mazess, and Robert Weinman

All at Once in the Big Apple

It must have been a most interesting encounter for Prince Harry when he attended a panel discussion called “Everything Everywhere All at Once” at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York last week.

It was attended by former president Bill Clinton, his daughter Chelsea, and actor Matt Damon with former TV anchor Katie Couric, who previously gave a scathing review of the Duke of

New Crescendo members Ellen Lehrer Orlando and Tom Orlando were welcomed by Kathryn R. Martin, Nir Kabaretti, and Janet Garufis (courtesy photo)

Sussex, 40, in her 2021 memoir.

In Going There, Couric described meeting King Charles III’s youngest son, then 27, “reeking of cigarettes and alcohol” when they met for an interview in Brazil back in 2012.

It was described as his “wild oats sowing phase,” two months before his infamous trip to Las Vegas where he played “strip billiards” naked in his hotel suite.

As his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, famously said: “Recollections may vary!”

On the Right Path

Social gridlock reigned at the Carriage and Western Museum for the 60th anniversary barbecue bash for the Montecito Trails Foundation – the first one in six years – having previously been held at the Coffin estate at the Montecito Valley Ranch.

More than $100,000 was raised by the 175 guests, including the Montecito Community Foundation and Mark and Tiffany Lemons, with a paddle raise of $10,000 each, with the first project including work on the San Ysidro Trail.

Executive director Ashlee Mayfield was the keynote speaker, with major sponsors including Montecito Bank & Trust and The Ann Jackson Family Foundation.

Auctioneer Keith Fox sold off a luxurious Rosewood Miramar getaway and horseback adventure for $4,700, and a Santa Barbara Dream Getaway including a night at the San Ysidro Ranch, a champagne brunch for four at the Stone House, and a VIP-curated hike with Mayfield for $4,000.

Among the supporters listening to the Doublewide Kings, founded and led by Montecito’s Palmer Jackson Jr. , and noshing on fare from the Los Padres Outfitters BBQ, were Das Williams , Scott Reed , Jonathan Bishop , Fred Brander , Alixe Mattingly , Dick and Marilyn Mazess , Eileen and Charles Read , Tony Morris , and Tim Taylor

Accolades to Billeci

The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture has recognized UCSB Arts & Lectures Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta Billeci with a 2024 Leadership in Arts Individual Award.

Celesta, a good friend, joined Arts & Lectures as executive director in 2000 from UCLA Live.

She is the previous recipient of the Jerry Willis Leadership in Arts Award in 2015 from the Western Arts Alliance.

UCSB Arts & Lectures is now in its 65th season, presenting more than 100 events annually – from performances and talks to film screenings and educational programs for all ages.

A resolution formalizing the award will be presented to the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Ellen Opens Up

Montecito comedienne Ellen DeGeneres has opened up about being diagnosed with attention-defi -

cit/hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder while revealing she is also grappling with several other health conditions.

The former TV talk show host, 66, shared her litany of problems in her new Netflix comedy special For Your Approval in which she also admitted she went to therapy to deal with “all the hatred” following revelations that she fostered a toxic work environment on The Ellen DeGeneres Show taped in Burbank.

“It’s funny because I’ve never thought of myself as abrasive. I think of myself as careful and everyone else is out of control.”

Other ailments include osteoporosis, a bone disease causing bones to become brittle and break easily, and arthritis, a classic condition that causes joint inflammation.

Such are the joys of aging...

Remembering Dame Maggie Smith

On a personal note, I remember the great British actress Dame Maggie Smith, who has died in London aged 89.

Smith, who enjoyed a seven-decade career, was known to U.S. viewers as the Dowager Duchess of Grantham in the series Downton Abbey scripted by Lord Julian Fellowes

I was lucky enough to catch the two-time Oscar and four-time Emmy winner on stage a number of times including Peter Shaffer’s delightful play Lettice and Lovage with the late Margaret Tyzack on Broadway in 1990, and Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van in London’s West End in 1999, which was later made into a glorious film with the great dame in 2015.

I also saw her in Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance in 1997.

A wise, witty, waspish and wonderful actress.

Sightings

Gwyneth Paltrow at the Yves Saint Laurent show during Paris Fashion Week... Kevin Costner at the History Talks event in L.A... Actor Josh Brolin at Pierre Lafond.

Pip! Pip!

From musings on the Royals to celebrity real estate deals, Richard Mineards is our man on the society scene and has been for more than 15 years

Principal keyboard Natasha Kislenko and principal flute Amy Tatum performing (courtesy photo)

Montecito Foundation Board President Ruth Green presents donation to MTF’s Paddy McMahon and Ashlee Mayfield (photo by Tony Morris)

Celesta Billeci (pictured here with a fan) was presented with 2024 Leadership in Arts Individual Award (photo by Isaac Hernandez)

Matt Zuchowicz, Shannon Neels, and Montecito Fire Chief David Neels (photo by Tony Morris)

Gail Young, Jane Murray, and Bob Young (photo by Tony Morris)

MONTECITO PLANNING COMMISSION NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

DATE OF HEARING: OCTOBER 18, 2024

PLACE: PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING ROOM

123 E. ANAPAMU STREET, RM. 17 SANTA BARBARA, CA 93101

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The following methods of participation are available to the public.

1. You may observe the live stream of the Montecito Planning Commission meetings on (1) Local Cable Channel 20, (2) online at: https://www.countyofsb.org/1333/CSBTV-Livestream; or (3) YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/user/CSBTV20

2. If you wish to provide public comment, the following methods are available:

• Distribution to the Montecito Planning Commission - Submit your comment via email prior to 12:00 p.m. on the Tuesday prior to the Commission hearing. Please submit your comment to the Recording Secretary at dvillalo@countyofsb.org. Your comment will be placed into the record and distributed appropriately.

• Attend the Meeting In-Person: Individuals are allowed to attend and provide comments at the Montecito Planning Commission meeting in-person.

• Attend the Meeting by Zoom Webinar - Individuals wishing to provide public comment during the Montecito Planning Commission meeting can do so via Zoom webinar by clicking the below link to register in advance. Register in advance for this meeting: After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing important information about joining the webinar.

When: October 18, 2024 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Topic: Montecito Planning Commission 10/18/2024

Register in advance for this webinar: https://countyofsb.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mVECRVCPQxK5wNp5n3GDXQ OR PARTICIPATE VIA TELEPHONE:

Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):

Webinar ID: 894 5564 9959

The Commission’s rules on hearings and public comment, unless otherwise directed by the Chair, remain applicable to each of t he participation methods listed above.

The Montecito Planning Commission hearing begins at 9:00 a.m. The order of items listed on the agenda is subject to change by the Montecito Planning Commission. Anyone interested in this matter is invited to speak in support or in opposition to the projects. Written comments are also welcome. All letters should be addressed to the Montecito Planning Commission, 123 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, California, 93101. Letters, with nine copies, and computer materials, e.g. PowerPoint presentations, should be filed with the secretary of the Planning Commission no later than 12:00 P.M. on the Tuesday before the Montecito Planning Commission hearing. The decision to accept late materials will be at the discretion of the Montecito Planning Commission. Maps and/or staff analysis of the proposals may be reviewed at https://www.countyofsb.org/plndev/hearings/mpc.sbc or by appointment by calling (805) 5682000.

If you challenge the project(s) 24RVP-00050, 24RVP-00051, 24AMD-00008, or 24CDP-00077 in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence to the Montecito Planning Commission prior to the public hearing.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this hearing, please contact the Hearing Support Staff (805) 568-2000. Notification at least 48 hours prior to the hearing will enable the Hearing Support Staff to make reasonable arrangements.

24RVP-00050

24RVP-00051

24AMD-00008 Miramar Acquisition Co. LLC

0002210. Published September 25, October 2, 9, 16, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT:

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: The Club, 632 E. Canon Perdido Street, Santa Barbara, CA, CA 93103. Boys & Girls Club of Santa Barbara, INC, 632 E. Canon Perdido Street, Santa Barbara, CA, CA 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 20, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0001996. Published September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT:

96 Eucalyptus Lane

24CDP-00077 Housing – Mixed Use Development 1759 S. Jameson Lane Exempt, CEQA Guidelines Section 21159.25 Joe Dargel, Deputy Director (805) 568-3573 Willow Brown, Planner (805) 568-2040

Hearing on the request of Miramar Acquisition Co., LLC, property owner, to consider the following:

a) Case No. 24RVP-00050 for revisions to Development Plan 14RVP-00000-00063 to allow 56,485 square feet of development in the CV (Visitor Serving Commercial) Zone consisting of affordable employee and market-rate apartments and resort shops in compliance with Article II Section 35-174.10.

b) Case No. 24RVP-00051 for revisions to Minor Conditional Use Permit 07CUP-00000-00047 to allow residential uses consisting of 26 affordable employee apartments and eight market-rate apartments in compliance with Article II Section 35-172.11.

c) Case No. 24AMD-00008 to amend Major Conditional Use Permit 07CUP-00000-00045 for hotel improvements in the Transportation Corridor Zone District (within the Union Pacific railroad right-of-way) in compliance with Article II Section 35-172.11.

d) Case No. 24CDP-00077 for the development allowed by the revised Development Plan (Case No. 24RVP-00050) in compliance with Article II Section 35-174.9, the development and authorized use allowed by the revised Minor Conditional Use Permit (Case No. 24RVP-00051) in compliance with Article II Section 35-172.9, and the development and authorized use allowed by the amended Major Conditional Use Permit (Case No. 24AMD-00008) in compliance with Article II Section 35-172.9.

e) Determine the project is exempt from CEQA pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21159.25, as outlined in the Notice of Exemption.

The application involves Assessor Parcel Nos. 009-371-007, 009-333-013, and 009-010-004, zoned CV (Visitor Serving Commercial) and TC (Transportation Corridor), located at 1759 South Jameson Lane and 96 Eucalyptus Lane, in the Montecito Community Plan area, First Supervisorial District.

MONTECITO COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION

RECORDING SECRETARY (568-2000)

Published October 2, 2024

Montecito Journal

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Clutch Engineering, 3001 Vista Linda Lane,

Santa Barbara, CA, CA 93108. Fearless Design, LLC, PO Box 5292, Santa Barbara, CA, CA 93150. This statement was filed with the County Clerk

of Santa Barbara County on September 17, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk.

I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-

Published September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT:

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Premier Essentials Lifestyle Coaching, 3521 Mercury Drive, 201, Santa Maria, CA 93455. Stylist Danielle Leshea, LLC, 3521 Mercury Drive, 201, Santa Maria, CA 93455. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 27, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0002059. Published September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT:

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Albertsons #3171, 1500 N H Street, Lompoc, CA 93436. 1918 Winter Street ABS LLC, c/o Legal Department, 7 Corporate Drive, Keene, NH, 03431. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 5, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0002120.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Tiki Trader, 890 Linden Ave, Carpinteria, CA 93103. Andreas K Gutow, 3600 Harbor Blvd 348, Oxnard, CA 93035; Paul M Garcia, 6375 Lagunitas CT, Carpinteria, CA 93013. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 6, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0002139. Published September 11, 18, 25, October 2, 2024

Far Flung Travel North Slope Chronicles

by Chuck Graham

Some of the best unfiltered water

I’ve ever drunk cascaded over broad gravel bars along the Canning River – surging down the North Slope of the Brooks Range in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Northeast Alaska. Three friends were paddling in a raft, while I paddled in a one-man pack raft on our way to the Arctic Ocean. Seemingly, the days never ended as we paddled through the longest day of the year, during the third week of June, the Arctic sun dipping below the tundra for only two hours, as wolves howled and shaggy caribou huddled on the frigid Canning.

For three weeks we weaved between bedraggled strainers and thick ice still clinging to winter. Ironically, it was the winding rivers that offered reprieve and solace from massive swarms of mosquitoes, Alaska’s largest bird, while navigating our way through braiding rivers. We paddled down three rivers in all, beginning on the Upper Marsh Fork, the Canning, and finally the Staines River, where we could hear ice floes cracking and the surf booming on gritty barrier islands on the Arctic Ocean.

Lost

The Canning widened, separating the tundra two miles wide. All it took for me to become separated from my comrades was me paddling over a nondescript braided channel sweeping further to the northeast. The raft holding my friends remained in the main channel. At the time, as I bounced down the channel, I thought it would lead right back to them. Instead, it took me to the other side of the river.

Of course, there were some distractions as I worked my way to the main channel. One of those was the biggest moose I’ve ever seen. I saw the bull mangling dense willows on an island in the middle of the Canning. I thought I could approach from my pack raft undetected because the moose was partially concealed in the willows, but also because its absurdly girthy antlers were destroying those willows.

It either saw me or smelled me, because once I butted my pack raft on the shore of the gravelly isle, all went silent in the willows. It was incredible how something so large became so stealthy in those seemingly impenetrable willows. There was no way I was going to leave the pack raft. I didn’t even get out of it. There’s no messing around with a bull moose. I let it go and continued paddling for the main channel, my priorities hovering over me like a dark storm cloud.

Of Mud, Mosquitoes, and Memories

I didn’t panic, but we were a long way from anything other than the North Slope of the Brooks Range, tundra, ice and Arctic wildlife. Things could’ve been worse, right? My biggest concern was returning to the main channel ahead of my friends. I didn’t want them getting ahead of me in fear I would miss them, and then none of us knowing what to do next. So, I paddled hard, taking every left channel braiding west in the swift-moving runnel.

It was a warm, sunny day on the river – shorts, sun-shirt, hat, sunglasses. My camera was in my dry bag along with my food. However, what proved to be the most vital piece of gear were my binoculars. Another fear I had was once I returned to the main channel, could I find high ground – a much-needed vantage point to scan for my paddling buddies. The Canning and the Staines rivers weaved through tundra that was mostly flat. I needed high ground.

Partially relieved after reaching the main channel, my next priority was high ground. I needed to see over the top of the Canning and surrounding tundra. The last channel that led me to the main channel, also deposited me straight into the only bluff I saw for miles in every direction. I don’t believe I mentioned I was barefoot. I momentarily ditched my pack raft in a popular muddy wallow, where musk ox and caribou shared the same mucky bog. Absolutely caked in gooey mud, I scrambled upward approximately 100 feet to my lofty perch. Accompanying me on my ascent were literally hundreds of mosquitoes. I had stirred them out of their muddy slumber after leaving my pack raft. I took my hands and wiped my legs, smearing hundreds of mosquitoes. They were so thick on my skin, that when I wiped them off, they transformed into this black, gunky paste, almost like crude oil. It didn’t matter, though. I was so focused on locating my friends.

I wanted to catch them upriver, floating toward me. It’s what I envisioned, and it’s what I received. They were a mile upriver. Despite the dark cloud of mosquitoes, I could see them through my binoculars. Once I had eyeballs on the main raft, I sprinted down the bluff in my longest strides with seemingly superhero speed. I dropped my gear in my pack raft without breaking stride, and dove into a brain freeze of 38-degree water. It not only took my breath away, but it momentarily washed away all the mosquitoes. More importantly I rid myself of any residual Arctic anxiety.

I easily accepted all the heckling my friends delivered, and reveled in the freezing, turquoise blue Canning River. Although tempted to veer off on my own after continuing, I kept close to the main raft and braiding channel that eventually converged with the Staines River. Along the way we smelled death on the river, still several miles from the lonely Arctic Ocean. After reaching the coast, we received a report from a lone seabird biologist monitoring nests in the tundra. An emaciated polar bear had left the ice on the Arctic Ocean and followed its powerful sense of smell three miles upriver to what turned out to be a caribou carcass.

It made me think of that burly moose, and being lost in a wilderness so grand, remote and even intimidating. I was just a mere visitor passing through one of the wildest places I’ve ever been, where apex predators still reigned supreme in the last of the Last Frontier.

For the record, Apple Maps is terrible out here

Caribou performing what is known as the “Final Prance of the Last Frontier”

Memories are fleeting but mosquito bites last forever

Chuck Graham is a freelance writer and photographer based in Carpinteria, where he also leads kayak tours and backpacking trips in Channel Islands National Park

of which over 12 will have a booth with their info and how to donate.

The Avo Festival is a nonprofit organization and an all-volunteer effort, whose proceeds benefit the Carpinteria Education Foundation and the Future Farmers of America.

411: www.avofest.org

Helena Mason Gallery Closes

Jamie and Natalie Sanchez announced this week their decision to close their Helena Mason Art Gallery at 48 Helena Street in the SB Funk Zone on September 27, immediately after their final exhibition party the same evening. The event offered one last look and serious discounts for purchases of the works of current exhibiting artists Luca Barberini, Pedro de la Cruz, and Sylvan Butera Rich

The decision came after experiencing a sudden and precipitous decline in business in 2024 compared to their high-volume success in 2023, including the leasing of the space for private events.

I spoke with Natalie just prior to the event start. She explained, “We [Jamie and I] kept finding each month this year a steady and large decline in both sales and attendance at our openings, and in general. It finally came down to us making the call to say as of October 1, the gallery is closed. We are exploring options to lease the space. My work in the arts is not done yet. I love the community in the arts. We’ve met some great artists, Funk Zone business owners and customers, some who have become our good friends. Art is such a healing thing for me. I am thinking about doing work with our local nonprofit art organizations and how I can help them.”

I asked her if she ever thought about doing any form of art herself. She smiled and shared, “I might dabble in art. I definitely want to take classes with Tami Macala at her SB School of Mosaic Art.”

We next talked about with her gallery closed, how for certain there are no galleries with the same type of artist contracts she held. She said that perhaps there may be at the Art and Soul Gallery at 116 Santa Barbara Street, but couldn’t speak for the owners. Private galleries, like Sullivan Goss, have strict guidelines and contracts for the artists they represent. Other guests mentioned exhibitions at local breweries in the Funk Zone; however the wall space is limited and lighting the art is questionable.

At the event, Jana Brody, the SB County District 2 Arts Commissioner and an artist herself, offered, “This gallery closing comes after Bonnie Rubenstein decided to retire and close her gallery rental space at Silo 118 on Gray Avenue end of January 2024, just shy of its sale to new owners who may have shut it down anyway.”

The lack of art sales at local galleries is also expressed by individual artists selling out of their studios. No one seems to hold the answer to the decreased support.

Seen at the event with hugs and love, many with flowers, were artists Wallace Piatt, Chris Gocong and wife Mandy, and Rod Lathim; and business owners Luisa Hyatt (Rincon Brewery), Erica Brown (Dylan Star Boutique), Jill Johnson (LOVEWORN), and Teddi Drew (SB Trolley). Sentiments overheard from the constant flow of guests included, “Tell me it isn’t true, [sigh], the lack of support in the area for art!”

Expressing her sentiments via text, Ashley Woods Hollister, a major supporter and entrepreneur of the arts in SB County, wrote “Sorry I can’t be there, sending a big hug to Natalie and can’t wait to see her next project. The gallery closing is sad because her space is so beautiful. It has been so amazing of her to have done all she did for the arts community!”

411: https://helenamasonartgallery.com

A Calitri)

the Board for the buildings by architects George Washington Smith and Reginald Davis Johnson.”

Jones, who started on the board in 2017, discussed the need of funding to restore the property to what it once was, including a fund for employee housing to retain staff, saying, “Leave it better than you found it.”

Following the formal program, guests toured the garden and talked over the plans with the staff and board.

411: www.lotusland.org

Annual Suffolk University Alumni Event

Suffolk University Trustee Christine Garvey, JD (’72), with Montecito Bank & Trust, Susan Cappiello, JD (’82), of Santa Barbara, and Matthew Howard, JD (’10), of Los Angeles hosted the Annual Suffolk University Alumni gathering at the Jonathan Club Penthouse Terrace in Santa Monica on Thursday, September 28.

Garvey is well-known for her roles on the Board, and as Chair of the Audit Committee at Montecito Bank and Trust. Cappiello worked as General Counsel for the Open Software Foundation and served as Secretary of its Board, responsible for international negotiations with companies to acquire software to interoperate among all hardware platforms to identify areas from sexual harassment to antitrust issues. She is a Court Appointed Advocate for foster kids and other legal support ventures. Howard is the Managing Director of Compliance, Conduct, and Operational Risk for JPMorgan Chase & Co. Los Angeles. The event was managed by Suffolk University Division of Advancement’s Senior Director of Advancement Engagement and Annual Giving Jonathan McTague, MPA, and featured a reception with a curated sushi and open bar prior to the formal program. Garvey welcomed the alumni –Suffolk University President Marisa Kelly, PhD, the College of Arts & Sciences Dean Edie Sparks, PhD, supporter Susan Sokoloff, and spouse to Kelly, Margie Arnold. Dr. Marissa Kelly provided talking points focused on the upcoming elections and the volunteer work Suffolk University students are doing for voting support and research, saying, “Our students gain experiential and immersive learning opportunities in their education. We have programs for career equity and success, and prepare our students to engage in local communities. This fosters the transformative impact Suffolk University education has on our students. We have established our ‘Suffolk Polls,’

where students learn how to avoid bias and perform sampling of the largest percentage of the population. This year, they are fostering non-partisan civic political processes and voting registration. Students are volunteering at polling stations, acting as bilingual translators, and supporting efforts for voter education.”

In her talk, Garvey encouraged continued alumni donations, as over 94% of students receive scholarship and financial support. She noted her pride in the Suffolk Law School, saying, “This year, we have 411 new students from 31 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and 17 other countries. These students hold the strongest academic records in 14 years. It is the most racially and ethnically diverse group enrolled, with 11% already holding graduate degrees, 22% as first-generation college students.”

She then shared her decision to establish an Endowment Chair at Suffolk Law with a generous donation. Her chair is titled, “The Christine Newman Garvey JD’72 Professor of Law Fund,” the first Endowed Chair by a female lawyer. It supports an existing professorship for a current faculty member who excels in the areas of teaching and scholarship. The endowed fund will generate a stipend to support the professor’s salary consistent with the University’s endowment policies. Humbled by the audience’s long applause, Garvey asked for their support of Suffolk University.

The event concluded with networking and photo-ops.

Joanne A Calitri is a professional international photographer and journalist. Contact her at: artraks@ yahoo.com

Gallery owner Natalie Sanchez and artist

Sylvan Butera Rich with her painting, Santa Barbara Riviera (photo by Joanne

Jamie and Natalie Sanchez with their children Bobbi and Ford, and Jamie’s mom, Barbara Sanchez (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Susan Cappiello, Marisa Kelly, and Christine Garvey (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Thank you, Rick Caruso, for taking such great care of our community and making Montecito the gem of California.

David Peterson

Vote Yes on P for SBCC

I have been a board member of the SBCC Foundation for over 10 years. I just completed my tenure as board president and couldn’t be more proud of the programs the Foundation has implemented on behalf of the students. Our premier program, the Promise, introduced in 2016, has afforded all students who complete high school in the SBCC district, two years of enrollment at SBCC including books and fees at no cost. This semester there are over 2,000 students enrolled in the program, the largest class so far.

Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) has been a cornerstone of our community for over 100 years offering affordable education and career training to countless students. These students graduate and either go on to four-year schools or become part of the workforce here in Santa Barbara.

Unfortunately, many of SBCC’s facilities are now over 60 years old and

Mrequire urgent repairs and upgrades to meet current safety standards.

Measure P will allow SBCC to modernize its classrooms, labs, and job training facilities, ensuring that our community continues to benefit from high-quality education without increasing tax rates. This measure also includes strict fiscal accountability, with independent oversight and audits to ensure that funds are used responsibly and transparently.

Please join me by voting YES on Measure P so we can continue to support the vital services SBCC provides to our community and ensure a brighter future for Santa Barbara.

Madeleine

Jacobson, SBCC Foundation Past President

A Reasonable Proposal

After being approached by opponents of the Miramar project, I did a deep dive into the proposed addition of affordable housing for employees, market-rate apartments, and resort shops. What I found was not a mall, not a total overhaul, but a plan that isn’t nearly as frightening as many people have been warning about.

Most importantly, 26 affordable apartments will make a big difference in people’s lives. As the daugh -

CRIME IN THE ‘CITO

Assault / 1759 S. Jameson Lane

Wednesday, Sept 18, 2024, at 23:48 hrs

Deputies responded to the Rosewood Miramar for a report of an assault that recently occurred. It was determined that the Reporting Party (RP) was actually the suspect, and he was arrested for assaulting his supervisor with a wooden broom stick. The victim was transported to the hospital via ambulance for injuries sustained during the attack.

Narcotics / 2300 Block of Bella Vista Drive

Saturday, Sept 21, 2024, at 12:29 hrs

Deputies responded to an 084 of a subject slumped over the steering wheel of a small black pickup. Subject was contacted in the vehicle and found to be in possession of a small baggie of methamphetamine, for which she was cited and released. The subject’s partner returned to the vehicle while Deputies were speaking with them and was found to have two outstanding misdemeanor warrants for which the partner was subsequently arrested. Vehicle was towed from the scene and the individual was booked without incident at SBJ.

Out of Control Teen / San Ysidro Road

Sunday, Sept 22, 2024, at 20:46 hrs

Deputies responded for an out-of-control teenager who was Under the Influence, marijuana.

Wellness Check / San Ysidro Road

Wednesday, Sept 25, 2024, at 19:49 hrs

RP called because they could hear a female screaming for help, and that a man was inside her residence. Deputies arrived and found an elderly female outside of the residence. The

ter of hotel employees who worked long hours as waiters and waitresses, I strongly support housing for the Miramar employees.

The proposed building along Eucalyptus Lane blends with existing hotel two-story structures and is well-screened by trees and landscaping. The plan for discreet signage and well-planned parking makes for an understated addition.

Some have warned about traffic and parking impacts from proposed shops. As a customer of the existing shops at the Miramar, I welcome more retail options and find it hard to believe that a dozen or so small resort retail stores will cause traffic congestion, especially with the proposed parking plan. Current Miramar shops are not causing traffic issues, as most customers shop while visiting the hotel. If there is data that is evidence to the contrary, please present it.

This is a reasonable proposal that will do a lot of good. I give it my full support.

Jessica Schaeman

A Bear’s Debate

Carlos, The Bear, was feeling anything but demure and mindful as he watched the Harris / Trump debate. The fur on his back bristled, his claws clenched repeatedly in and out and his ears twitched in quizzical amazement.

He had seen much the same diplomacy during previous matchups. Somehow, he expected unbridled chicanery on the part of the past Prez, and the usual political fluff statements from the opposition. He was not disappointed, he got depressed.

Watching on his phone, he could see viewer comments.

Hate comments from the red side and power to the people from the blue side. The national news outlets looked like Tik-Tok. He phoned Connie Cougar; she said that if red wins she’ll move her clan to a different area, to be safe. Carlita’s bear cubs stopped by and gave a… whatever – young ones he thought, this is important – all the humans being so divided, it didn’t make sense to Carlos, it was dangerous.

Bears had had an understanding, an agreement, from thousands of years ago, to live and let live, except in cases of trespass or mating disagreements, even the Grizzlies! Frustrated, after his own debate about what to do, he decided to channel his energy into something positive. So, he put on his Gerry Mulligan/ Chet Baker album, got out his paints and brushes, then made a sign that said:

NO KING!!

-Michael Edwards, Montecito

female stated she found a man inside her residence. A perimeter was set and K93 responded. While investigating, the female made numerous statements that did not make sense, and it started to appear she may be suffering from a cognitive illness. A search was conducted, and the residence was clear. Medics were requested and ultimately transported the female to Cottage Hospital for an exam, because she was discovered to be hallucinating.

Overdue Hiker / Hot Springs Trail

Wednesday, Sept 25, 2024, at 02:26 hrs

Deputies responded to the Hot Springs Trail to assist Search and Rescue (SAR) with an overdue hiker. Deputies arrived and discovered that the RP and her boyfriend had gone to the trail at approximately 0001 hours to hike to the springs. The RP got scared due to it being dark and returned to her vehicle. The RP stated her boyfriend, who was an alcoholic and intoxicated, continued to the springs. The RP called after hours went by and believed her boyfriend was in distress. While waiting on SAR to respond, the boyfriend returned from the trail. He advised he got lost but was uninjured.

Suspect on Property / Hot Springs Road

Thursday, Sept 26, 2024, at 16:13 hrs

While the victim was home, an unknown male suspect rang the victim’s doorbell and attempted to open the door. This activity was captured on the victim’s doorbell camera. After trying the door, the suspect walked off in an unknown direction. The suspect was described as a HMA, 40s, 6-ft, 190 lbs, wearing a blue shirt.

Domestic Issue / Alston Road

Friday, Sept 27, 2024, at 20:32 hrs

A female called 911 and reported her husband had kidnapped her 2-year-old and threatened to kill her. After contacting the RP and her husband, it was learned the two Had Been Drinking (HBD) and were arguing about how they should be raising their children. There was no kidnapping or any other crime. The male-half decided to leave the residence for the remainder of the evening.

How Aromatherapy May Enhance Brain Health and Cognitive Function

Aromatherapy is often linked to relaxing and creating a peaceful environment, but new research suggests it may provide more than simply a pleasant aroma.

A recent study from the University of California, Irvine reveals that diffusing essential oils may improve brain function, particularly in elderly people. These discoveries have the potential to change the way we think about aromatherapy, from a tool for ambiance to a possible brain-boosting technique.

Dr. Tara Swart, a neuroscientist, discusses how our sense of smell is closely linked to cognitive function: “Exposing ourselves to a greater variety of scents can improve cognition, including memory and verbal skills, while also creating physical changes in the brain.”

The study examined 43 adults aged 60 to 85, some of whom were exposed to essential oils nightly for six months. Participants were instructed to diffuse oils such as rose, lavender, eucalyptus, and peppermint for two hours each night before bed-

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

County Administration Building, 4th Floor Board Hearing Room

105 E. Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, CA The hearing begins at 9:00 a.m.

On Tuesday, October 15, 2024 the Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing to consider the adoption of a resolution by the County Historic Landmarks Commission conferring landmark status on All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church The project is located at 80 Eucalyptus Lane, Montecito Community Plan area, California, 93108 in the First Supervisorial District and is identified as Assessor’s Parcel Number 009-333-011. The Board will consider taking one of the following set of actions:

a) Approve the designation by, and confirm the action of, the Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission and the conditions to be imposed, and adopt a resolution with conditions, designating All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church located at 80 Eucalyptus Lane, Montecito, CA 93108 as a County Historic Landmark, and determine that the project is exempt from the provisions of CEQA pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15308;

b) Modify the designation by the History Landmarks Advisory Commission by modifying and adopting the resolution with conditions to be imposed, designating All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church located at 80 Eucalyptus Lane, Montecito, CA 93108 as a County Historic Landmark, and determine that the project is exempt from the provisions of CEQA pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15308; or

c) Disapprove the designation of the Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission designating the All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church located at 80 Eucalyptus Lane, Montecito, CA 93108 as a County Historic Landmark and the conditions to be imposed, and determine that the project is exempt from the provisions of CEQA pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15270.

For current methods of public participation for the meeting of October 15, 2024, please see page two (2) of the posted Agenda. The posted agenda will be available on Thursday prior to the above referenced meeting for a more specific time for this item. However, the order of the agenda may be rearranged or the item may be continued.

Please see the posted agenda and staff reports available on the Thursday prior to the meeting at http://santabarbara.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx under the hearing date or contact the Clerk of the Board at (805) 568-2240 for alternative options.

For additional information, please contact Kylie Sanchez, Planner, at: Email: sanchezk@countyofsb.org | Tel: 805-568-2507

If you challenge this project in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence to the Board of Supervisors prior to the public hearing.

Attendance and participation by the public is invited and encouraged. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this hearing, please contact the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors by 4:00 p.m. on Friday before the Board meeting at (805) 568-2240.

Published October 2, 2024 Montecito Journal

time. In contrast, the control group diffused unscented distilled water.

The researchers performed cognitive tests and brain scans at the start and end of the study to monitor changes in neural function. The findings were astounding: participants who took essential oils exhibited a 226 percent improvement in cognitive function, notably in memory and verbal learning tests, when compared to the control group. This considerable rise implies that even brief exposure to pleasant scents can benefit brain health.

Why does fragrance have such a significant impact on our cognitive abilities? It turns out that stimulating the olfactory system, the sensory system that detects smell, has a direct effect on the brain.

Aromatherapy appears to be especially effective at night. According to Dr. Swart, “Nighttime is a good window as it’s approximately eight hours where the olfactory nerve can be gently stimulated without interruption.”

If you have a diffuser, try running it for two hours in the evening with relaxing essential oils like lavender, rosemary, or clary sage, which have been demonstrated to improve relaxation and cognitive performance. If you do not have a diffuser, there are numerous different ways to stimulate your sense of scent. You can use calming candles, try room or linen sprays, or incorporate essential oils into your shower.

Aromatherapy may have much more to offer than just a relaxing atmosphere. And the best part? It’s a simple, cost-effective activity that everyone may integrate into their daily routine.

How the Nation’s Largest Electric School Bus Fleet Will Also Power the Grid

At a former industrial site in East Oakland, 74 electric school buses serve as a symbol of the future, in which buses not only cut harmful emissions but also help

COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA BOARD OF SUPERVISORS STATE OF CALIFORINIA

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Tuesday, October 15, 2024 In Santa Barbara County Administration Building, 4th Floor Board Hearing Room 105 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara, CA The meeting starts at 9:00 a.m.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 the Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing to consider the Judson appeal of the Montecito Planning Commission’s May 15, 2024 approval of the Tait Family Trust Addition and Garage preliminary and final design approval (Case No. 23BAR-00084). The project is located at Assessor Parcel No. (APN) 011-150-019, zoned 2-E-1, located at 665 Juan Crespi Lane, in the Montecito area, First Supervisorial District.

The project is a request for a new detached garage and minor additions to an existing single-family dwelling on a property zoned Single-Family Residential in the Montecito Community Plan area.

For additional information, please contact Kathleen Volpi, Planner, at: Email: volpik@countyofsb.org | Tel: 805-568-2033.

Staff reports and the posted agenda is available on the Thursday prior to the meeting at http://santabarbara.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx under the hearing date or contact the Clerk of the Board at (805) 568-2240 for alternative options.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors by 4:00 PM on Friday before the Board meeting. For information about these services please contact the Clerk of the Board at (805) 568-2240.

If you challenge this project (Case No. 23BAR-00084) in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence to the Board of Supervisors prior to the public hearing. G.C. Section 65009, 6066, and 6062a.

Mona Miyasato CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

By: Sheila de la Guerra, Deputy Clerk

Published October 2, 2024 Montecito Journal

to stabilize the power system. Zum, a San Francisco-based startup, envisions converting electric school bus fleets into battery systems capable of feeding energy back into the grid during peak demand periods.

“Today marks the next phase in our evolution,” said Ritu Narayan , CEO and co-founder of Zum, during the official launch event for the country’s first all-electric school bus fleet. By merging clean transportation with energy storage, Narayan intends to establish Zum as both a transportation service provider and a prominent participant in the energy industry.

Zum already provides transportation services to several large school districts in the United States, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino. Their goal is to electrify 10,000 school buses within the next four years. This initiative aims to reduce considerable carbon emissions while improving air quality for students and communities.

Narayan believes that the 74 electric buses transporting Oakland’s special-needs kids will reduce emissions by 25,000 tons, a huge step toward cleaner air and healthier communities. She points out that replacing the United States’ 500,000 diesel school buses with electric alternatives could save an estimated 8.4 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

This V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) technology enables electric vehicles to not only consume power but also return unused energy to the grid during peak demand periods. School buses are ideal for this because they spend the majority of their time parked after finishing their morning and afternoon runs. During downtime, they can charge using cheaper, off-peak power, primarily from California’s surplus solar energy, and then discharge unused electricity when the grid is overloaded with demand in the late afternoon and evening.

According to the California Energy Commission, converting all 25,000 school buses in the state to electric power may generate more than a gigawatt of electricity. Electric school buses have enormous potential, making them a significant asset not only for schools but also for the state’s energy infrastructure.

Zum’s ambition is to spread this idea across the country, electrifying over 200 buses in the San Francisco Unified School District by 2025 and assisting Los Angeles in converting its 450 buses. As the Oakland initiative advances, it will serve as a proof-ofconcept for other utilities and regulators across the United States.

MONTECITO PLANNING COMMISSION NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

DATE OF HEARING: OCTOBER 16, 2024

PLACE:

PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING ROOM 123 E. ANAPAMU STREET, RM. 17 SANTA BARBARA, CA 93101

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

The following methods of participation are available to the public.

2. If you wish to provide public comment, the following methods are available:

• Distribution to the Montecito Planning Commission - Submit your comment via email prior to 12:00 p.m. on the Friday prior to the Commission hearing. Please submit your comment to the Recording Secretary at dvillalo@countyofsb.org. Your comment will be placed into the record and distributed appropriately.

• Attend the Meeting In-Person: Individuals are allowed to attend and provide comments at the Montecito Planning Commission meeting in-person.

When: October 16, 2024 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Topic: Montecito Planning Commission 10/16/2024

Register in advance for this webinar: https://countyofsb.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7acQjoK4Tz6W_BvXCF2BDg OR PARTICIPATE VIA TELEPHONE:

Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):

Webinar ID: 880 1622 3586

The Commission’s rules on hearings and public comment, unless otherwise directed by the Chair, remain applicable to each of the participation methods listed above.

The Montecito Planning Commission hearing begins at 9:00 a.m. The order of items listed on the agenda is subject to change by the Montecito Planning Commission. Anyone interested in this matter is invited to speak in support or in opposition to the projects. Written comments are also welcome. All letters should be addressed to the Montecito Planning Commission, 123 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, California, 93101. Letters, with nine copies, and computer materials, e.g. PowerPoint presentations, should be filed with the secretary of the Planning Commission no later than 12:00 P.M. on the Friday before the Montecito Planning Commission hearing. The decision to accept late materials will be at the discretion of the Montecito Planning Commission. Maps and/or staff analysis of the proposals may be reviewed at https://www.countyofsb.org/plndev/hearings/mpc.sbc or by appointment by calling (805) 568-2000.

If you challenge the project(s) 24DVP-0001, 24AMD-00007, 24CDP-00080, 24APL-00021, or 24BAR-00095 n court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence to the Montecito Planning Commission prior to the public hearing. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this hearing, please contact the Hearing Support Staff (805) 5682000. Notification at least 48 hours prior to the hearing will enable the Hearing Support Staff to make reasonable arrangements.

24DVP-00001

Freston Driveway Repair 2300 Bella Vista Drive

Exempt, CEQA Guidelines Sections 15301, 15269(c) Nicole Lieu, Supervising Planner (805) 884-8068 Kylie Sanchez, Planner (805) 568-2507

Hearing on the request of Tom Freston, Property Owner and Applicant, to consider the following:

• Case No. 24DVP-00001 for approval of a Final Development Plan in compliance with Section 35.472.080 of the Montecito Land Use and Development Code, on property zoned RMZ-40, to validate existing structures onsite that were built legally with permits but are now nonconforming solely due to the absence of an approved Development Plan, and to validate the replacement and reinforcement of an existing concrete swale and asphalt concrete driveway;

• Determine the project is exempt from CEQA pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Sections 15301 [Existing Facilities] and 15269(c) [Emergency Projects], as outlined in the Notice of Exemption.

The application involves Assessor Parcel No. (APN) 007-020-061, zoned RMZ-40, located at 2300 Bella Vista Drive, in the Montecito Community Plan area, First Supervisorial District.

24AMD-00007

24CDP-00080

24APL-00021

24BAR-00095

1260 BB Property, LLC Biltmore Revisions

1620 Channel Drive Addendum to 04EIR-00000-00006 Nicole Lieu, Supervising Planner

Hearing on the request of 1260 BB Property, LLC, property owner, to consider the following:

• Case No. 24APL-00021, an Appeal of the Montecito Board of Architectural Review’s decision to deny Preliminary Approval of Case No. 24MBAR-00095 for renovations to the Biltmore Hotel, in compliance with Section 35-182 (Appeals) of the Article II Coastal Zoning Ordinance;

• Case No. 24AMD-00007 for approval of an Amendment to the Biltmore Hotel and Coral Casino Revised Development Plan (03DVP-00000-00002) to allow renovations and improvements to the Biltmore Hotel and changes to existing Conditions of Approval, in compliance with Section 35-174 (Development Plans) of Article II;

• Case No. 24CDP-00080 for approval of a Coastal Development Permit, associated with an Amendment to allow renovations and improvements to the Biltmore Hotel and changes to existing Conditions of Approval, in compliance with Section 35-169 (Coastal Development Permits) of Article II; and

• Accept the Addendum to Environmental Impact Report (04EIR-00000-00006) pursuant to the State Guidelines for Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act. There are no new significant environmental impacts as a result of this Amendment request. The original EIR identified significant effects on the environment in the following categories: aesthetics, air quality, archaeology, biology, geology, historic resources, land use, noise, transportation & parking, and water resources/flooding - drainage. The Addendum to the EIR and all documents may be reviewed at the Planning and Development Department, 123 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara.

The application involves Assessor’s Parcel No. (APN) 009-352-009, zoned Resort/Visitor Serving Commercial (C-V), located at 1260 Channel Drive, in the Montecito Community Plan area, First Supervisorial District.

Published October 2, 2024

Montecito Journal

MONTECITO COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION RECORDING SECRETARY (568-2000)

Adventures in Japan Sights from the Land of the Rising Sun

by Robert Bernstein

Here are some images capturing only a few of the highlights from my Japan travels earlier this year. Of note was a visit with Hiroshima bombing survivor Sadae Kasaoka, who spent over an hour with us, and seeing the “Atomic Bomb Dome,” a surviving building that was the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. There was also sumo wrestlers, cherry blossoms in full bloom and clear views of Mt. Fuji, fast trains, peaceful temples, plenty of food and even a visit to a sake brewery – plus, of course, meetings with friendly people. Please read my “Japan First Impressions?” article for more explanation! Visit www.montecitojournal. net/2024/05/14/japan-first-impressions

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4

Commodores at the Casino – The Chumash Casino Resort is a super stable and secure space but it ain’t no “Brick House,” at least not in the sense of the funky and suggestive song by The Commodores. Once led by future solo superstar Lionel Richie , the band whose history dates back to 1960s Motown still boasts three founding members and a group that will get you grooving to its other No. 1 singles, including the Grammy-winning “Nightshift,” “Three Times A Lady,” and “Sail On,” drawn from its innumerable albums that have sold over 70 million copies worldwide over the years. Mighty-mighty!

WHEN: 8 pm

WHERE: Chumash Casino, 3400 E. Hwy. 246, Santa Ynez

COST: $49-$79

INFO: (800) CHUMASH (248-6274) or www.chumashcasino.com

Not Messiaen Around – American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) intended to premiere their physicalized and dramatized version of Harawi , Olivier Messiaen’s song cycle for voice and piano, when that adventurous and enterprising artist collective served as Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival in 2022. But soprano Julia Bullock contracted Covid, and the performance was canceled. Now Bullock, along with fellow AMOC contributing members pianist Conor Hanick (also a member of the Music Academy of the West faculty), and dancer-choreographers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, will perform the piece at UCSB Campbell Hall, adding new dimensions to Messiaen’s deeply affecting cycle of a dozen interconnected love songs. In the piece, the dancers effectively double the singer and pianist in connecting movement to music, adding intensity to Messiaen’s romantic paean to life, love and longing. Following the performance, Bullock will participate in a talkback with the audience.

WHEN: 8 pm

WHERE: Campbell Hall

COST: $32.50-$77.50

INFO: (805) 893-3535 or https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu

ONGOING

Pianos on State – Santa Barbara’s State Street downtown dishes up its 15th year of the original public art installation that boasts spontaneous music making on spinet pianos that have been decorated by local volunteer artists at the Community Arts Workshop last weekend. Although the 14 pianos positioned at various street corners from Cota to Sola and other strategic locations (Stearns Wharf, Santa Barbara Airport) generally await passersby plopping down to tickle the ivories, the milestone anniversary will also be commemorated with curated musical performances by youngsters studying with local piano teachers over the course of the nearly three-week program. Other than during scheduled events, pianists from professional to clueless key-bangers are invited to sit down and try their hands when the impetus strikes. Coming up is the fourth annual Masq(p) arade!, where players (and audience!) don festive masks and perform in successive 15-minute stints, moving up State to the next Pianos on State locale in a whimsical, progressive-style performance parade showcasing a series of dynamic piano-based acts on October 18. (Details at www.masqparade.org)

WHEN: October 1-20

WHERE: State Street Santa Barbara

COST: free

INFO: www.pianosonstate.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3

1st Thursday Galleries – No October surprises are in store for the monthly art-and-culture walk in Downtown Santa Barbara, except maybe the joy of having your imagination sparked by a piece of artwork or a moment of a performance, or seeing an unusual space turned into a gallery. Highlights of this month’s offerings include a new entry in Rilascio Chiropractic (1221 State, Suite 200), which celebrates its 25th anniversary with art by local Heidi Zin, whose multimedia works explore the connection between the physical and spiritual world. Inspired by nature, emotions and light, Zin creates visionary art, which will be on display during the evening of wellness resources and refreshments... Also embarking on its first art adventure is Whiskey Richards (435 State), the longtime downtown watering hole and nightspot which will boast an immersive environment with a variety of art adorning the walls... Further downtown by the Funk Zone, Art & Soul (116 Santa Barbara St.) hosts a reception for “Sacred Synergy,” featuring new works by Mark Russell Jones in an evocative, meditative show that invites the viewer into an inner space for introspection and existential contemplation. Enjoy live music, fine wines and small bites while chatting with the artist. There are just a few more days to experience the captivating works of the late Alberto Valdés via a culturally enriched exhibit at Elizabeth Gordon Gallery (15 W. Gutierrez St.) that offers a rare glimpse into the inspirations and legacy of the celebrated artist. The pieces are on view only until October 5 before they move to the Carpinteria gallery... “Manongs on the Central Coast” is the new exhibit at The SPACE at Casa de la Guerra (15 E. De La Guerra St.), exploring Santa Barbara’s Filipino American history through family stories, photographs, oral histories, and documents... Back up at the upper State Street section, Sullivan Goss (11 E. Anapamu St.) has the opening reception of Mary-Austin Klein: “Airspace,” featuring the artist’s hyper real depictions of the vast open spaces found in Southern California. Also on view: the 40th Anniversary Historic Salon and “Left Brain / Right Brain: The Marriage of Art and Technology”... Today’s artist’s reception at Bella Rosa Galleries (1103 State St.) heralds a new dual exhibition from Michael Irwin, whose Meditational Wavescapes capture the essence of the ocean and transport viewers to faraway places of solitude, and Dug Uyesaka’s intriguing assemblage pieces that provoke both thought and humor... It’s double delight at domecíl (1223 State St.) where at 6 pm Brian Kuhlmann and Joslyn Lawrence will delve into the inspirations and processes that led to the creation of their series Song of Absolution, an archive of disappearing landscapes, while Pat Miller showcases colorful blown glass art. WHEN: 5-8 pm

WHERE: Lower State Street and side streets

COST: free

INFO: (805) 962-2098 or www.downtownsb.org/events/1st-thursday

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5

Interplanetary Passion – When John Gray’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus was published in 1992, it exploded people’s understanding of relationships in attempting to explain the differences between the sexes from a gender-behavioral perspective, in turn selling some 50 million copies over the decades. A theatrical adaptation debuted in Paris in 2007, and Men Are from Mars – Women Are from Venus LIVE! later made it to off-Broadway in 2014 with what’s been called a sexy and fast-paced, adults-only take that blends theater, stand-up, and advice from the book in a series of vignettes that dives into what happens when Mars and Venus collide. For the 10th anniversary tour, original writer Eric Coble and director Mindy Cooper have returned to inject new life into the script.

WHEN: 2 & 7:30 pm

WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.

COST: $79 (18 & over only)

INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.org

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3

1st Thursday Off the Wall(s) –own mini-folded clothes from book pages inspired by Isabel Barbuzza

My Library (1989), now on view at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (1130 State St.) in the Family Resource Center, and/or pop in to the SBMA Store for a book signing with local author and avid art collector David Gersh , who will be talk about his newly-released title, Unleashed: A Comic Relief cides to run for mayor... Local dancers from Timo Nuñez Arte Flamenco and Grupo de Danza Folklorico Quetzalcoatl perform at Santa Barbara Historical Museum (136 E. De La Guerra St.) for the Project Fiesta exhi bition... Childless cat ladies (and everyone else) are welcome at SBIFF Education Center, (1330 State St.) to watch Nine Lives , a heartwarming story of love, resilience and the connection between one enigmatic cat and the humans who love her... Indie-folk duo Fort Vine ( Trevor Tunison and Nyna Nelson good lyrics, colorful harmonies, and catchy rhythms – inspired by their VanLife travels on the 800 Block of State.

WHEN: 5-8 pm

WHERE: Lower State Street and side streets

COST: free

INFO: (805) 962-2098 or www.downtownsb.org/events/1st-thursday

Granada Getting Down – The Granada Centennial All-Star House Band is the fancy name for a collection of Santa Barbara stalwart musicians who have played together frequently in various formats. Guitarist and bassist Randy Tico form the backbone of the band that also features saxophonist Tom Buckner , trumpeter Jim Mooy me , keyboardist George Friedenthal , percussionist drummer Herman Matthews performing in a cabaret-style atmosphere at the 100-year-old theater. Six solo vocalists are set to sing in front of the band over the course of two 45-minute sets, including Morganfield Burnett , Miriam Dance , Jackson Gillies , Hunter Hawkins , Lois Mahalia , and Tina Schlieske , with each performing three songs across genres. A dance floor in front of the stage gives guests a chance to move and groove in a more casual club-like vibe in the latest offering of The Granada’s “Centennial on Stage” series.

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Granada Theatre, 1214 State Street COST: $20.24

INFO: (805) 899-2222 or www.granadasb.org

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8

Staples Does It Again – Mavis Staples, the chart-topping soul-gospel-R&B pioneering singer and civil rights icon, is still going strong at 85, apparently ageless and as deeply soulful as ever. More than 60 years since performing as part of the Staple singers at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, and marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Kennedy Center honoree and recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award has been called “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace” by NPR. Staples is indeed still delivering roof-raising performances with youthful vigor and commanding maturity. Opening is the duo The War and Treaty, who blend traditional folk, country, R&B and spirituals into a soulful brew.

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Arlington Theatre, 1317 State St.

COST: $52-$132

INFO: (805) 963-9589/www.arlingtontheatresb.com/upcoming-events or (805) 893-3535/https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu

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LANDSCAPE

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PHYSICAL TRAINING & THERAPY

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TILE SETTING

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Beautiful renovated mid-century 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom with Ocean views in Santa Barbara foothills, Available Dec 15th - March 15th (646) 206-4391

PET/ HOUSE SITTING

Do you need to get away for a weekend, week or more? I will house sit and take care of your pets, plants & mail. I have refs if needed. Call me or text me. Christine (805) 452-2385

Ocean view plot off of Bluff Ave. Island Edition-C #83 $39,000 For info (805) 455-0731

KNIFE SHARPENING SERVICES

EDC Mobile Sharpening is locally owned and operated in Santa Barbara. We specialize in (No-Entry) House Calls, Businesses, and Special Events. Call (805) 696-0525 to schedule an appointment.

PRIVATE WINE CURATOR

LA BAROLO

“Private Barolo Collection Experts” Routine shipments direct from Italy. Contact: nash@labarolo.com

RELIABLE LIVE-IN PROPERTY/ PET CARE!

Respectful Australian American seeking full-time live-in property/pet care opportunity. Excellent local references. Chris (805) 705-8622

$10 MINIMUM TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD

It’s simple. Charge is $3 per line, each line with 31 characters. Minimum is $10 per issue. Photo/logo/visual is an additional $20 per issue. Email Classified Ad to frontdesk@montecitojournal.net or call (805) 565-1860. All ads must be finalized by Friday at 2pm the week prior to printing. We accept Visa/MasterCard/Amex (3% surcharge)

Find your family’s Plan B! Harvey Law Group is a global law firm offering Residency and Citizenship by Investment programs since 1992. To learn more about citizenship and residency diversification options

Contact our legal team at: (305) 200-8863 info@harveylawcorporationcom www.harveylawcorporation.com

FOR SALE

Biedermeier sofa for sale. Frame is birch, Sweden,1820-1830. Very solid. H:40” L:96” D:31” seat height 25” $6500 call or text Barbara (626) 390-4039

Santa Barbara Bird Sanctuary Menagerie 2430 Lillie Avenue Summerland, CA 93067 (805) 969-1944

Donate to the Parrot Pantry! At SB Bird Sanctuary, backyard farmer’s bounty is our birds’ best bowl of food! The flock goes bananas for your apples, oranges & other homegrown fruits & veggies. Volunteers

Do you have a special talent or skill? Do you need community service hours? The flock at SB Bird Sanctuary could always use some extra love and socialization. Call us and let’s talk about how you can help. (805) 969-1944

SANTA BARBARA CEMETERY PLOT

ByPeteMuller&FrankLongo

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ByPeteMuller&FrankLongo Foreachofthefirstfiveminicrosswords,oneoftheentriesalsoservesaspartofa five-wordmetaclue.Theanswertothemetaisawordorphrase(sixlettersor longer)hiddenwithinthesixthminicrossword.Thehiddenmetaanswerstartsin oneofthesquaresandsnakesthroughthegridverticallyandhorizontallyfrom there(nodiagonals!)withoutrevisitinganysquares.

"IForgot___YouExisted" (2019TaylorSwifthit)

Nowoutoftheoutbox,say

LOCAL BUSINESS DIRECTORY

Founder of Khan Academy Salman Khan

Brave New Words: How AI

Will Revolutionize Education

(and Why That’s a Good Thing)

Sat, Oct 5 / 4 PM / Arlington Theatre

A prescient and practical look at using AI to enhance human potential.

Financial Journalist and Author Josie Cox

Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality

Thu, Oct 17 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE copies of the book Women Money Power will be available while supplies last (pick up at event; one per household)

Examining the challenges women face today and the culture and systems that hold them back.

Pulitzer Prize Finalist

An Evening with Percival Everett

Fri, Oct 25 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE copies of the book James will be available while supplies last (pick up at event; one per household)

The author of numerous books including James and Erasure looks at race, politics and family from a uniquely contemporary American perspective.

Bestselling Novelist and Essayist Anne Lamott

Somehow: Thoughts on Love

Wed, Nov 13 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre

Observations on finding love late in life, the changing ways we love our children and how love can keep us going in a painful world.

Includes Live Cooking Demo An Evening with Yotam Ottolenghi

Mon, Oct 14 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

Spend a delicious evening with the world-renowned chef as he shares stories, discusses his new book Comfort and prepares a dish live on stage.

Co-presented with

Dr. Jennifer Doudna

CRISPR Gene Editing and the Future of Human Health

Tue, Oct 22 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

Explore CRISPR’s ethical implications and its applications in agriculture, environment and medical science.

No. 1 New York Times Bestselling Author and Poet Yung Pueblo in Conversation with Pico Iyer

Tue, Oct 29 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

A writer and poet whose focus on self-knowledge and radical self-acceptance has made him a source of inspiration and wisdom to millions.

Time 100 Most Important People in Health 2024 Dr. Uché Blackstock

Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine

Wed, Nov 20 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE copies of the book Legacy will be available while supplies last (pick up at event; one per household)

Reflecting on the deep inequities in the U.S. healthcare system and offering prescriptions for how to change them.